The Board is remanding the claim for a VA opinion to address evidence of trapezius atrophy and to discount the effects of medications on the disability rating.
The deciding factor: The Board failed to address favorable evidence regarding muscle atrophy and did not properly evaluate the baseline severity of the disability, so a remand is necessary.
- Claimed conditions
- right shoulder strain with rotator cuff tendonitis; glenohumeral joint osteoarthritis, instability, and dislocation/recurrent dislocation; and s/p arthroscopic glenohumeral join stabilization
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 21, 2025
- Citation
- A25036378
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 705 · Granted: 38% (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 A25036378.
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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- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for PTSD is granted as the evidence shows a current diagnosis of PTSD, an in-service stressor, and a medical link between the two.
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