The Board has remanded the cases for further development to obtain a retrospective addendum opinion regarding the severity of the Veteran's service-connected cervical spine and lumbar spine disabilities.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not provide a detailed opinion regarding painful motion, functional loss due to pain, excess fatigability, weakness, and additional disability during flare-ups for the Veteran's lumbar and cervical disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- status post anterior cervical discectomy and instrumented fusion C4-5, lumbar strain with degenerative arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 27, 2022
- Citation
- 22054984
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 22054984.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the claims for service connection for lumbar strain with degenerative arthritis, left lower extremity sciatica, and right lower extremity sciatica must be remanded due to pre-decisional duty-to-assist errors.
- Granted
The Board granted a 40 percent disability rating for the Veteran's lumbar spine disability since September 26, 2024.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issues of an initial rating in excess of 20 percent for lumbar strain with degenerative arthritis and an initial rating in excess of 20 percent for degenerative disc disease, cervical spine prior to December 10, 2014, due to a failure by the VA examiner to provide a retrospective opinion that complies with the Board's remand instructions.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for several conditions, including spinal arthritis of the neck and intervertebral disc syndrome (IVDS) of the neck/upper back. However, tinnitus was granted, and a 20% rating was assigned for left lower extremity radiculopathy.
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