Citation Nr: 21041232 Decision Date: 07/08/21 Archive Date: 07/08/21 DOCKET NO. 17-39 691 DATE: July 8, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to a low back disability, diagnosed as lumbar spondylosis with mild degenerative disc disease, claimed as a herniated disc in the lower back ("low back disability") is granted. FINDING OF FACT Affording the Veteran the benefit of the doubt, it is at least as likely as not that his low back disability onset in service, and is related to service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for a low back disability have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5103(a), 5103A, 1131, 1112, 1113; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from January 1979 to August 1982. He earned multiple distinctions, including a Parachute Badge. The undersigned Veterans Law Judge presided over a Board hearing in April 2021. A transcript of this hearing is of record. At this hearing, the Veteran mentioned being seen through Community Care at the VA Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. The Board finds that these records are in the Veteran's claims file. Service Connection The law provides that service connection may be granted for a disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active military service. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.304. Service connection may be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge when all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disease was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (d). Generally, establishing service connection requires medical or, in certain circumstances, lay evidence of (1) a current disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a nexus between the claimed in-service disease or injury and the present disability. See Davidson v. Shinseki, 581 F.3d 1313, 1316 (Fed. Cir. 2009); Hickson v. West, 12 Vet. App. 247, 253 (1999). Entitlement to a low back disability, diagnosed as lumbar spondylosis with mild degenerative disc disease, claimed as a herniated disc in the lower back ("low back disorder") The Veteran asserts that he developed his currently diagnosed low back disorder in service. Specifically, he contends that he injured his back by way of repeated parachute jumps in service, and has suffered episodic low back pain ever since. Alternatively, he contends that his gait was altered due to his bilateral foot disabilities, which caused his low back problems. The Board concludes that the Veteran has a current diagnosis of spondylosis that began during active service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107(b); Holton v. Shinseki, 557 F.3d 1363, 1366 (Fed. Cir. 2009); 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a). As an initial matter, the Veteran has a current diagnosis of spondylosis, a degenerative disease of the spine. Next, the Veteran's service records, and his credible testimony indicate low back problems during service. Specifically, he is in receipt of a parachutist badge, and credibly testifies that he executed jumps approximately twice a month while in service. Moreover, multiple treatment records dated January 1981 and a July 1982 local aid station record, show treatment for low back pain and muscle spasm. The episodic nature of the Veteran's symptoms explains the absence of a notation of low back pain on the Veteran's July 1982 separation examination. Finally, while the Veteran's February 2017 VA examiner opined that the Veteran's current diagnosis is less likely than not related to his injury during active service, the examiner's conclusion is based solely on a lengthy absence of treatment. The Board observes that the Veteran, as a lay person, is competent to report observable symptomatology of an injury, to include pain or numbness. Barr v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 303, 307-08 (2007). Moreover, the Veteran credibly attests to the episodic nature of his low back disability, and his lack of medical insurance. The Board finds it likely that the Veteran's employment in manual labor did not provide enough compensation or health insurance, and that he worked through episodic flareups of symptoms, until he was able to seek medical treatment. The VA examiner, in providing a negative nexus opinion, mostly discussed how the Veteran's low back disability was proximately caused by his heavy lifting after service for 22 years. The examiner did not adequately address the Veteran's contention that multiple parachute jumps, with hundreds of pounds of heavy equipment, at least as likely as not caused his degenerative spondylosis, even if his post-service construction work assisted progression of the disease. The Board finds that the Veteran's competent and credible reports of pain since his parachute jumps in service are not negated. This conclusion is supported by a positive nexus opinion dated April 2021. The author, the Veteran's chiropractor, reviewed the claims file and found that the Veteran's complaints are at least as likely related to in-service parachute jumps. Accordingly, the Board finds that the Veteran's competent and credible statements of the gradual, episodic, onset of pain in his low back places his appeal at least in equipoise. The Board resolves reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor and grants service connection for a low back disability. 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. B.T. KNOPE Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board Z. Maskatia