Citation Nr: 21006113
Decision Date: 02/03/21	Archive Date: 02/03/21

DOCKET NO. 17-19 515
DATE: February 3, 2021

ORDER

Service connection for back disability is granted.

FINDING OF FACT

The weight of the evidence shows that it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran’s back disability originated in service.

CONCLUSION OF LAW

The criteria for service connection for back disability have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303.

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran honorably served on active duty from September 1984 to August 1992. In August 1996, the Board denied the Veteran’s claim for service connection for mechanical low back pain. In a February 2015 rating decision, the Regional Office (RO) reopened the claim then construed as for back disability and denied it on the merits. The Veteran appealed. In February 2021, the Veteran testified via a Board’s video conference hearing. 

Given an abundance of new and material evidence received since the August 1996 Board’s denial, the previously denied claim for a back disability is reopened. See 38 U.S.C. § 5108; 38 C.F.R. § 3.156.  

Upon further considering the evidence of record viewed as a whole and in light of the continuity of symptomatology doctrine, the Board has found that the legal criteria for service connection for back disability have been met. In cases, where the evidence of record shows an onset of the disability in service, its manifestation to a compensable degree within one year from the date of discharge, and eventual clinical diagnosis at a later date, service connection for that disability is granted. See 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303(b), 3.307(a)(3), 3.309(a).

At the hearing, the Veteran stated under oath that, during his service in the Navy, he was a cook, spent on average 8 hours a day on his feet on steel floor in the galley, and began to experience pain in his joints, to include knees and back. This is wholly consistent with his service records and his statements made in January 1994.  At that time, the Veteran further stated that he had injured his back in service. Of further note is a July 1993 VA examination report noting that “over the past year, the Veteran has developed bilateral paraspinous lumbar pain which is occurring intermittently . . .  every 1-2 weeks and are of hours to days in duration.” 

The July 1993 VA examiner’s reference to at least a year-long history of back pain is sufficient to establish its chronicity and effectively places the onset of the Veteran’s back pain at some point prior to his discharge in August 1992. Further, as reflected in his January 2016 Notice of Disagreement, the Veteran reported to have been dealing his back pain by taking over-the-counter medications on and off since the early 1990s. Absent any affirmative evidence to the contrary, the Veteran’s uncontradicted statements sufficiently show the continuity of his symptomatology. Eventually, as reflected in an October 2014 examination report, the Veteran was clinically diagnosed with a form of spine arthritis, namely, a degenerative disk disease.

Here, the evidence establishes continuity of symptomatology for back pain which onset in service was documented within a year of service, and which has continued to the present day. Accordingly, service connection for back disability is granted.

 

 

MATTHEW W. BLACKWELDER

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	Alex Bardin, Associate Counsel

The Board’s decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.