Citation Nr: 22013536 Decision Date: 03/09/22 Archive Date: 03/09/22 DOCKET NO. 19-26 851 DATE: March 9, 2022 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for a back disability is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran's low back disability manifested while in service and has continued to the present. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for entitlement to service connection for a back disability have been met. 38 U.S.C. § 1131, 1154, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served honorably on active duty in the Army from January 1956 to October 1957. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a September 2018 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The Veteran attended a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge in March 2022. Entitlement to service connection for a back disability The Veteran contends that service connection is warranted for his back condition. Service connection may be granted for disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. The three-element test for service connection requires evidence of: (1) a current disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the current disability and the in-service disease or injury. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1166 -67 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Certain chronic diseases will be presumed related to service, absent an intercurrent cause, if they were shown as chronic in service; or, if they manifested to a compensable degree within a presumptive period following separation from service; or, if they were noted in service (or within an applicable presumptive period) with continuity of symptomatology since service that is attributable to the chronic disease. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1101, 1112, 1113, 1137; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309. Walker v. Shinseki, 708 F.3d 1331, 1338 (Fed. Cir. 2013). In this case, it is undisputed that the Veteran has a current back condition. Specifically, a March 2018 MRI noted that the Veteran had moderate lumbar spondylosis and scoliosis with multilevel degenerative disc disease with multilevel lower lumbar spine facet arthrosis. A current disability has therefore been demonstrated. The Board notes that the Veteran's service treatment records are unavailable and may have been affected by a fire in the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in 1973. Fire records lost through no fault of a veteran will afford a heightened duty to assist in developing any claims. The Veteran has stated that he injured his back while in service. Specifically, the Veteran has credibly testified that he was in a scuffle in the barracks, and while it started out as horseplay, it became serious after he flipped the other soldier over his shoulder. This other soldier who was much bigger than the Veteran then threw the Veteran across the room, and he landed on his back, on the corner of a footlocker. He further testified that they were all discouraged from reporting the incident or going to sick call. The Veteran testified that after he transferred stations, and was still experiencing significant pain, he finally went to sick call at their medical center. He has stated that when he was at Ft. Richardson, he was only told to sleep on a board, and no x-rays or evaluations were offered. The Board finds the Veteran's statements to be competent, in that they describe what he experienced, and that they are credible, in that they are in no way contradicted by the record. Therefore, an in-service injury has been shown. As the Veteran has been diagnosed with arthritis (degenerative disc disease) of the back, service connection is available via presumption for a chronic disability or continuity of symptomatology under 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303 (b), 3.3.07, 3.309. In this case, the Board finds the Veteran's reported history of consistent low back problems to be credible. He testified that he has been treated for his back condition since his discharge in 1957, though the treating physicians are long dead and no records exist. Furthermore, he credibly testified that his low back disability has continued since his service to the present. There is no competent evidence to the contrary. In light of the above, the Board finds the Veteran's competent and credible reports that his low back disability began while in service and has continued to the present demonstrate a continuity of symptomatology. Accordingly, the Board finds that the evidence in favor of the Veteran and service connection for a low back disability have been established. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(b). Bethany L. Buck Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board David M. Sebstead, 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.