The Board remands the claim for a new VA examination to determine if the Veteran has costochondritis or muscle pain in the chest that is related to his service.
The deciding factor: A remand is required due to a predecisional duty to assist error, as no opinion was obtained regarding the etiology of the Veteran's muscle spasms in his chest.
- Claimed conditions
- muscle pain in the chest, costochondritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 30, 2025
- Citation
- A25111088
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,549 · Granted: 26% (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 A25111088.
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's claim for bilateral hearing loss was denied, but his claims for tinnitus and costochondritis were granted.,The Board has remanded the claims for left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), pericarditis, and myxomatous mitral valve.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for costochondritis, finding that the evidence is in equipoise as to whether the condition is related to in-service chest pain.
- Granted
The Veteran's headaches are granted service connection, with the Board finding that his headaches started during active duty and have persisted.,Service connection for bilateral hearing loss is denied as there is no current diagnosis of hearing loss for VA purposes.
- Granted
The Veteran's tinnitus is granted as incurred in service.,The Veteran's left knee meniscal tear with degenerative arthritis is granted as incurred in service and has continued since then.
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