The Board has ordered remand for additional examinations to assess the severity of the Veteran's service-connected degenerative disc disease L5-S1 with history of herniated disc, status post-surgery and his bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy. The current VA examination reports are inadequate.
The deciding factor: The VA examination reports do not comply with DeLuca criteria for assessing joint disabilities, specifically lacking information on the degree at which pain occurs during range of motion testing.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative disc disease L5-S1 with history of herniated disc, status post-surgery, Right lower extremity radiculopathy sciatic nerve, Left lower extremity radiculopathy sciatic nerve
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- August 15, 2023
- Citation
- 23045069
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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 23045069.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder and hypertension, but remanded several other claims related to the low back and various peripheral nerves.
- Granted
The Board granted earlier effective dates for the award of service connection for degenerative disc disease, left lower extremity radiculopathy sciatic nerve, and right lower extremity radiculopathy sciatic nerve.
- Denied
The Veteran's back disability, right lower extremity radiculopathy, and left lower extremity radiculopathy are currently rated at 20 percent each. The Board finds that the evidence does not support a higher rating for any of these conditions.,The Veteran's back disability is rated under DC 5242, which requires forward flexion to be limited to 15 degrees or less. The December 2021 VA examination did not find such limitation and found no additional functional loss due to pain, fatigue, weakness, lack of endurance, or incoordination.,The Veteran's bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy is rated under DC 8512 for the minor extremity. The December 2021 VA examination did not find any evidence of severe incomplete paralysis and found no additional functional loss due to pain, fatigue, weakness, lack of endurance, or incoordination.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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