The Board has determined that the Veteran's back disorder, including back pain and degenerative arthritis, likely existed during his active duty service. As a result, the claim for service connection is granted.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found that the Veteran's current back disorder is at least as likely as not related to his military service, but did not find it directly linked to service due to the presence of degenerative arthritis which may have developed post-service. The Board considered this evidence in light of the requirement for continuity of symptomatology and granted service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- back disorder, back pain, degenerative arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 4, 2024
- Citation
- A24029021
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 A24029021.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
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 remanded the case due to the need for additional development, including obtaining SSA records and providing proper notice regarding secondary service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for a back disorder, high blood pressure, and type II diabetes mellitus due to errors in development of the claim.
- Granted
The Board has restored the Veteran's rating for his right elbow condition from 10 percent to 20 percent effective May 5, 2025, finding that the evidence was in equipoise regarding whether there had been improvement in the Veteran's ability to function under ordinary conditions of life and work.
- Granted
The Board has granted earlier effective dates of January 13, 2020 for the service connection of low back disability and related radiculopathy issues. The Veteran's claims were reopened due to new evidence submitted in January 2020.
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