The Veteran's claim for an increased rating for her left chest wall disability, including on an extraschedular basis, is being remanded due to the inadequacy of the VA examination report. The case will be further examined and evaluated.
The deciding factor: The VA examination report was inadequate as it did not address the Veteran's assertions regarding the impact of the disability on her back, shoulder, and neck.
- Claimed conditions
- Recurrent costochondritis of the left chest wall, Myofascial pain syndrome
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 20, 2023
- Citation
- 23066940
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 23066940.
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 Veteran's myofascial pain syndrome was not found to require continuous medication for control, be episodic with more than one-third of the time present, or be refractory to therapy. Therefore, a compensable initial rating is denied.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected disabilities. The claims for myofascial pain syndrome and a seizure disorder were remanded.
- Partly granted
The Board denied the claims for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, myofascial pain syndrome, a back disability, and a neck disability as new and relevant evidence had not been submitted. The claims were remanded for further action regarding groin pain, fibromyalgia, and TDIU.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied the Veteran's claim for a compensable initial disability rating for hypertension and has remanded the issue of an increased rating for myofascial pain syndrome. The decision is binding only with respect to the specific issues decided.
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