The Board has ordered a remand due to the need for additional development, including obtaining an addendum opinion from a qualified clinician regarding the Veteran's joint and/or muscle pain, to include arthritis. The examiner must consider the Veteran's complaints of arm and shoulder muscle pain at the September 1983 separation examination and pulled muscle(s) in the August 1986 Reserve Component treatment record.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the previous VA examination did not substantially comply with the remand directives, hence another examination is necessary to address the Veteran's complaints of arm and shoulder muscle pain at the September 1983 separation examination and pulled muscle(s) in the August 1986 Reserve Component treatment record.
- Claimed conditions
- Joint pain, Muscle pain, Arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 5, 2020
- Citation
- 20071761
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,050 · Granted: 23% (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 20071761.
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.
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The Veteran's disability ratings for low back disability and right lower extremity radiculopathy have been reduced from 40% and 10%, respectively, to 20% and 0%. The reduction was based on improvements shown in recent VA examinations.
- Denied
The Veteran's right knee strain with arthritis is currently rated at 10 percent, the maximum allowable rating under Diagnostic Code 5010 prior to February 7, 2021. The Veteran's GERD with hiatal hernia and irritable bowel syndrome is not rated higher than 30 percent.
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