The Veteran's chronic lumbar strain is now rated at 40 percent effective November 30, 2017. Radiculopathy of the left lower extremity remains rated at 10 percent and radiculopathy of the right lower extremity is rated at 10 percent as of December 16, 2019.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's lumbar strain was found to have forward flexion limited to 30 degrees or less effective November 30, 2017, meeting the criteria for a 40% rating under the General Rating Formula for Diseases and Injuries of the Spine (DC 5237).
- Claimed conditions
- Chronic Lumbar Strain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 40%
- Decision date
- December 28, 2020
- Citation
- 20081115
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,676 · Granted: 24% (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 20081115.
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 Board denied the Veteran's claim for entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) as his service-connected disabilities have not rendered him unable to obtain or perform substantially gainful employment.
- Granted
The Veteran's TDIU claim is granted from October 3, 2014, due to his service-connected PTSD, lumbar spine, and right knee disabilities preventing him from obtaining substantially gainful employment.
- Denied
The Veteran's ED is not found to be secondary to his service-connected conditions of chronic lumbar strain and left shoulder biceps tendinitis, and the Board denied service connection for this condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is remanded due to the need for further evaluation and determination of service connection for kidney stones, which were not addressed in the original decision.
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