The Board remands the claim for a new VA examination to determine the current severity of the Veteran's fibromyositis of spinal muscles, including without considering the ameliorative effects of medication.
The deciding factor: The Board must discount the beneficial effects of medication when assigning a rating for a musculoskeletal disability because the applicable diagnostic codes and regulations pertaining to musculoskeletal disabilities do not explicitly contemplate medication use.
- Claimed conditions
- fibromyositis of spinal muscles, right shoulder pain, arm pain, knee pain, foot pain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 30, 2025
- Citation
- A25056184
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,455 · Granted: 23% (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 A25056184.
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.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for TBI, back strain, chest pain, foot pain, and tendonitis as there is no evidence of disease or injury incurred during active duty or training.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for various conditions including sleep apnea, hypertension, left knee strain, left hip condition, right hip condition, foot pain, headaches, low back condition, and neck condition. The evidence does not support a finding of continuity of symptoms since service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied service connection for lower back pain and right shoulder pain, but has remanded the claim of major depressive disorder with suicidal tendency due to a duty to assist error.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's requests to reopen previously denied service connection claims for various joint conditions, including right ankle arthritis, left ankle arthritis, right shoulder pain, left shoulder pain, right knee arthritis, and left knee arthritis. The skin condition claim is remanded.
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