The Veteran's cervical spine disability is rated at 30 percent from July 17, 2009 to September 26, 2019.
The deciding factor: The evidence showed that the Veteran had limited forward flexion of his cervical spine (to 15 degrees) and pain, which met the criteria for a 30 percent rating under DC 5242.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative Joint Disease of the Cervical Spine, Cervical Paravertebral Muscle Spasm
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 30%
- Decision date
- December 22, 2020
- Citation
- 20080593
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,820 · 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 20080593.
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.
- Denied
The Veteran's degenerative joint disease of the cervical spine was found to not meet the criteria for a higher disability rating, as it did not result in forward flexion of 15 degrees or less and there was no evidence of favorable ankylosis of the entire cervical spine.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for chronic fatigue syndrome, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and chronic sinusitis. However, it granted an increased disability rating of 30 percent for left upper extremity radiculopathy.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's GERD was granted a 60 percent disability rating, and the June 15, 2020 VA Form 10182 for service connection claims was accepted as timely due to good cause shown.
- Granted
The Veteran's low back disability was restored to a 20 percent rating effective February 24, 2022. The other issues were denied.
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