The Board remands the claim for service connection for muscle and joint pain (cervical spine, shoulders, and back) to ensure proper duty to assist, specifically the assistance in obtaining the Veteran's November 1990 to May 1991 service treatment records.
The deciding factor: Remand is required due to an inadequate March 2020 VA medical opinion that did not cite any in-service treatment and because the record lacks complete service treatment records from the relevant period of service.
- Claimed conditions
- muscle and joint pain (cervical spine, shoulders, and back)
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 23, 2024
- Citation
- 24003448
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.
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