The Board granted service connection for dorsalgia, resolving all doubt in the Veteran's favor and finding that his dorsalgia is etiologically related to service.
The deciding factor: The July 2024 private opinion provided a positive nexus opinion on the relationship between the Veteran's dorsalgia and his service, while the November 2024 VA opinion was negative. The Board found the evidence regarding the nexus in relative equipoise and granted service connection based on the benefit of the doubt.
- Claimed conditions
- dorsalgia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- December 9, 2025
- Citation
- A25105781
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,548 · Granted: 31% (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 A25105781.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for service connection and TDIU due to a duty-to-assist error. The Veteran needs a VA examination to determine the nature and etiology of his back disability, and his SSA records need to be obtained.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected lumbosacral strain, dorsalgia, and degenerative arthritis alone have prevented him from obtaining or maintaining substantially gainful employment since August 2, 2023.
- Granted
The Board granted a rating of 40 percent for dorsalgia and service connection for right lower extremity nerve disability secondary to the service-connected dorsalgia.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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