The Board remands the Veteran's claims for increased ratings for degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine and bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy to obtain a more thorough VA examination.
The deciding factor: The Board finds that additional development is necessary to determine if the Veteran's symptoms resulted in the functional equivalent of ankylosis, as required by Chavis v. McDonough, 34 Vet. App. 1 (2021).
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine, Left lower extremity radiculopathy, Right lower extremity radiculopathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 14, 2025
- Citation
- A25043440
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.
- Partly granted
The Veteran was granted an effective date of July 31, 2012, for TDIU and October 22, 2012, for service connection of left and right lower extremity radiculopathy.
- Denied
The appeal for higher ratings and effective dates for various conditions was denied, with the exception of left and right lower extremity radiculopathy which were granted an earlier effective date.
- Denied
The Board denied increased ratings for various disabilities and granted earlier effective dates for service connection of scars, but denied an earlier effective date for individual unemployability.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for a lumbar spine disability, finding that the Veteran's current degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine is related to an in-service bicycle accident.
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