The Veteran's service-connected DDD of thoracolumbar spine with IVDS is currently rated at 20 percent, effective October 17, 2019. The right lower extremity radiculopathy has been rated at 10 percent since the claim was filed.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's lumbar spine disability most closely approximates a limitation of flexion greater than 30 degrees but not greater than 60 degrees, warranting a 20% rating. The right lower extremity radiculopathy has been manifested by no more than mild incomplete paralysis.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative disc disease (DDD) of thoracolumbar spine, Sciatica/radiculopathy of the right lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 20%
- Decision date
- October 28, 2020
- Citation
- 20069744
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,913 · Granted: 30% (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 20069744.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's initial disability rating for DDD of the thoracolumbar spine was granted at a 20 percent level from November 21, 2010 to May 11, 2021. For the right elbow, a staged initial disability rating in excess of 30 percent on the basis of limitation of flexion was denied.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities did not prevent him from securing or maintaining substantially gainful employment prior to April 11, 2016.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is being remanded to obtain updated medical records and to schedule a VA examination. The case will be reconsidered after the additional development.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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