The Board granted earlier effective dates for the award of service connection for right and left lower extremity radiculopathy, effective October 11, 2007, and increased the disability rating for lumbar spine disability to 40 percent, effective September 26, 2018.

The deciding factor: The Board found that the Veteran's reports of leg pain before March 2015 supported an earlier service-connection effective date for bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy and granted a higher rating based on the severity of his lumbar spine disability as of September 26, 2018.

Claimed conditions

right lower extremity radiculopathy, left lower extremity radiculopathy, lumbosacral strain with intervertebral disc syndrome

How they argued it

Direct service connection

Exposure basis

None

Rating assigned

40%

Decision date

November 18, 2025

Citation

25014112

Want to see how appeals like this one tend to go? Appeals like mine