The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient consideration of the Veteran's in-service back pain and its relation to his current low back disability.
The deciding factor: The examiner did not consider the Veteran’s in-service complaints of back pain, which may affect the determination of service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- intervertebral disc syndrome (low back disability)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 22, 2021
- Citation
- 21003683
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 21003683.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for earlier effective dates and initial compensable ratings, finding that the earliest possible effective date for service connection for a low back disability was April 27, 2016.
- Partly granted
The veteran's claims for increased evaluation for low back disability and left lower extremity radiculopathy were denied. A separate compensable evaluation of 10 percent for right lower extremity radiculopathy was granted. The claim for TDIU was denied, and the claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder was remanded.
- Granted
The Veteran's low back disability and related sciatic radiculopathies of the left and right lower extremities are rated at a 20 percent for lumbosacral strain with L5 herniated nucleus pulposus and intervertebral disc syndrome (low back disability) from September 8, 2015. The Veteran's low back disability is also rated at a 60 percent based on incapacitating episodes of IVDS since October 30, 2019.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for a higher rating for her low back disability and TDIU due to service-connected disabilities prior to March 19, 2021. The case will be returned to the AOJ for further development.
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