Citation Nr: 18157704 Decision Date: 12/13/18 Archive Date: 12/13/18 DOCKET NO. 17-01 099 DATE: December 13, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for a low back disability, to include a diagnosis of degenerative joint disease of the lumbar spine, is granted. FINDING OF FACT A current diagnosis of degenerative joint disease of the lumbar spine is etiologically related to service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for entitlement to service connection for degenerative joint disease of the lumbar spine have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5107 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303 (2018). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty in the U.S. Air Force from October 1973 to October 1993. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a March 2016 rating decision by a Regional Office (RO) of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Service Connection Service connection will be granted if it is shown that the veteran suffers from a disability resulting from personal injury suffered or disease contracted in the line of duty, or for aggravation of a preexisting injury suffered or disease contracted in the line of duty, during active military service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Disorders diagnosed after discharge will still be service connected if all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disease was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d); see also Combee v. Brown, 34 F.3d 1039, 1043 (Fed. Cir. 1994). In order to establish service connection on a direct basis, the record must contain competent evidence of: (1) the existence of a present disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the present disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated during service. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004). In the absence of proof of a present disability there can be no valid claim. Brammer v. Derwinski, 3 Vet. App. 223, 225 (1992). Some chronic diseases may be presumed to have been incurred in service, if they become manifest to a degree of ten percent or more within the applicable presumptive period. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1101(3), 1112(a); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307(a), 3.309(a). For those listed chronic conditions, a showing of continuity of symptoms affords an alternative route to service connection. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(b); Walker v. Shinseki, 708 F. 3d 1331 (Fed. Cir. 2013). Arthritis is a listed condition, with a presumptive period of one year following separation from service. Service treatment records document complaints of low back pain, including physical therapy treatment, and the Veteran competently and credibly reports that he has experienced low back pain symptoms since that time. Post-service private treatment records reflect that the Veteran underwent a computed tomography (CT) scan in May 2008 that showed degenerative disc and facet changes of the lumbar spine. Subsequent treatment records dated through April 2011 further reference degenerative joint disease and arthritic changes of the lumbar spine, and lumbar radiculopathy. Thereafter, in June 2014, private treatment records reflect that the Veteran fell from a ladder and sustained a lumbar compression fracture. Although a March 2016 VA examiner opined that the Veteran’s low back disability was less likely than not related to service, such an opinion is not adequate. The VA examiner relied primarily upon the Veteran’s June 2014 ladder injury and inaccurately reported that the Veteran’s degenerative joint disease of the lumbar spine started in 2014. As discussed above, the Veteran sought treatment for and was diagnosed with a low back disability prior to his June 2014 ladder injury. The VA examiner also did not consider the Veteran’s competent and credible lay statements of continuous pain since service. Therefore, no probative weight may be assigned to the opinion of the March 2016 VA examiner. The record reflects competent and credible evidence of an injury in service and low back pain since that time, and a current diagnosis of degenerative joint disease of the lumbar spine. Service connection must be granted. WILLIAM H. DONNELLY Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD G. A. Ong, Associate Counsel