The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection and increased rating of her lumbar spine disability, as well as her cervical spine and tension headaches. The remand requires a new VA examination to determine whether her neck disability is at least as likely as not due to an in-service disease, event, or injury; or proximately due to or aggravated by her service-connected lumbar spine disability. Additionally, the examiner should opine whether her tension headache disability is proximately due to or aggravated by her cervical spine disability and her lumbar spine disability.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the previous VA examination was inadequate as it did not consider all of the evidence of record, including private chiropractic treatment records suggesting a cervical spine disability. The remand requires a new examination to determine whether the Veteran has a current neck disability and if her tension headaches are related to her cervical spine complaints.
- Claimed conditions
- Cervical spine (neck) disability, Tension headaches
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 22, 2020
- Citation
- 20068562
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,569 · Granted: 26% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 20068562.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's initial evaluation for tension headaches to include migraines is granted, with a rating of 50 percent effective from May 23, 2023.
- Granted
The Veteran's tension headaches, which have been service-connected since the grant of service connection, are found to be very frequent and completely prostrating with prolonged attacks productive of severe economic inadaptability. The Board grants an initial 50 percent rating for tension headaches prior to December 1, 2020.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for a compensable disability rating for tension and migraine headaches is remanded due to the inadequacy of the September 2020 VA examination report, which did not consider the ameliorative effects of medication.
- Granted
The Veteran's tension headaches are rated at a 30 percent rating, effective December 26, 2024. The Board found that the Veteran experienced characteristic prostrating attacks occurring on an average of once a month over the last several months, warranting this rating. A higher rating is denied.
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