The Board has remanded the Veteran's appeal for additional development due to inadequate retrospective opinions regarding his thoracolumbar sprain.
The deciding factor: The retrospective opinions did not address all of the specific questions required by the June 2022 remand directives, including active motion, passive motion, and pain with weight-bearing and without weight-bearing throughout the period on appeal.
- Claimed conditions
- thoracolumbar sprain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 19, 2022
- Citation
- 22070420
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 22070420.
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 Veteran's appeal is remanded due to a duty to assist error, specifically regarding the VA examination relied upon for the current disability rating. The Veteran requests an increased rating based on flare-ups causing additional functional loss.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for headaches and restored the 40 percent rating for thoracolumbar sprain, effective June 1, 2024, while denying an increased rating. The Board also remanded a claim for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for thoracolumbar sprain, finding it to be related to an in-service back injury.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for thoracolumbar sprain and temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJD) as the evidence did not support a higher rating during the appeal period.
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