The Board denied the veteran's claim for service connection for cervical strain, finding that there was no evidence of a chronic neck disorder in service or shortly thereafter and that the persuasive balance of the evidence is against a finding that the Veteran's cervical strain is etiologically related to active service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner opined that the Veteran's cervical strain was less likely than not incurred in or caused by the claimed in-service injury, event, or illness. The Board found this opinion persuasive given the absence of evidence of medical encounters for evaluation or treatment for neck or upper back related conditions in service and the lack of credible reports of chronic neck pain since active service.
- Claimed conditions
- cervical strain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 20, 2025
- Citation
- A25025775
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,036 · Granted: 27% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 A25025775.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for service connection were dismissed due to a procedural defect in filing the claims on the correct form.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claims for various conditions were granted effective from July 1, 2020.
- Granted
The Veteran's claims for service connection and increased ratings have been granted. The effective date for the grant of service connection for cervical strain is April 4, 2005. Ratings for PTSD, cervical strain, vertebral fracture and lumbar discectomy, and IBS are all denied or not granted as requested.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for migraine headaches and cervical strain due to a duty to assist error. The AOJ failed to obtain VA medical opinions addressing the etiology of these disabilities.
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