63Sierra - New Member Looking For Guidance

[63SIERRA]

Troy I would like your opinion on a claim. I was in an on post car accident while on active duty. The civillian wife hit me in the rear with her car, into the back of my car at a redlight, she had break failure. her husband had did a not so good break job on thier car the day before. I was in alot of pain, and went on sick call. I was diagnosed initially with a fracture pars and spodylolysis and put in a back brace and put on a dead mans profile . I went back in a week, saw another doc, and he said back was broke, but not in accident. He put on the medical record . " old seat belt injury " with a question mark behind it. like he wasnt sure. So ok, I was on active duty for abt a year after that. with frequent visits to sick call with back pain complaints. all documented. So when my tour was up, I filed for several different contentions, with back condition as one of them. The va deny me in 1996 said the back condition know as pars defect, with sponylolisis is a congenital defect, and no related to millitary service. I didnt think to much of it at the time, burt recently started research. I looked thru my active duty medical records, and another doctor diagnosoed my back condition as spondylolysis thesis. I recently went to a chiropractor, and his diagnosis is L-5 spondylolisis thesis. He showed me the xrays and told me my back had been jacked up for a long time, and would take years to get results, and there basically were not alot of good options. He told me what happens is the pars bones, that hold the vertebre in thier proper alignment, can fracture from either blunt force inpact such as car accidents. or if they are weak for whatever reason. Then it lets the vertebre shift forward, out of alignment. Then u start getting nerves pinched an pain, such as I have now, and have been having since the accident while on active duty. So I sent the chiropractic diagnosis to the VA. I also sent a copy of the in service medical record where the doctor diagnosed me with spondylolysid thesis. Which is alot different that just spondylolysis. I had never had, nor complained of any back pain, or problems anytime before the on post car accident. I have had pain and problems with my back ever since the accident, and recieve pain meds from the va for it even now. So my questions are, being I filed for a back condition as a generic term, and the VA assigned the wrong diagnosis, and denied me on that wrong diagnosis,. do I have grounds for a CUE claim. ? if not, should I at least win my current appeal?

2. How can I find out, exactly what evidence the Va had at the time they adjudicated my claim , in other words, how can I find out if they had access to the medical slip where the doctor clearly wrote. " sponylolislis thesis. (I have sent the va a copy with my appeal, so they have it now, but I want to know if they had it then.

Edited September 16, 2013 by 63SIERRA

[carlie]

63,

If you can scan or post the exact wording from your denial, the Reasons and Bases Section

minus personal info like name and address, this would be helpful.

[carlie]

If they deny me again, I will tell them I did about 10,000 push ups and sit ups at ft. jackson,, no back pain.

slept on a hard cot with my rifle pokin me in the ares in desert storm for 6 months, no back pain.

worked on the biggest trucks the army has, for 4 years, carrying the biggest tools and removing the biggest tires. no back pain.

Marched 100 miles at the nijnemegan peace marches in holland. no back pain.

walked up and down the stairs to the 3rd floor of the barracks i lived in in germany for 32 months . no back pain.

last year in service, got rear ended at stop light,, Now have back pain. ME THINKS DAT DID IT.

What was your separation date ?

12 months or less ?

[free_spirit_etc]

"I also sent proof of when the millitary doc diagnosed me with spodylolysis thesis, while I was still on active duty. and not just spondylolysis. so im hoping thats enough."

From what I am reading spondylolysis (pars fracture) is the most common cause of spondylolylisthesis (the fractured bone slips on top of the bone below it) . So even if you were only diagnosed with spondylolysis in service, there could be a definite nexus there. Congenital spondylolysis is only one type of spondylolysis, and it not really all that common. Spondylolysis is more common in young athletes because of the repetitive stress put on their backs. So it seems like all the push ups, carrying heavy tools, repetitive stress of working on the heavy trucks, etc. might also come into play.

I am wondering that because you said the military doctor said your back was fractured, but it was not from the accident. So there might have been evidence of an older fracture on the x-ray. That doesn't necessarily mean the fracture occurred before service. It could have been a stress fracture from the work you did in the service and the car accident was enough to jolt it and push it over the edge. It would seem that the doctor putting a question mark after "old seat belt injury" would mean that he was guessing (in VA terms - speculating) about that.

But something you might want to watch out for is letting the VA get caught up in whether the car accident was actually the cause of it, because if there is a doubt that the car accident was the initial "cause" they might try to keep the focus on that, and say it isn't an SC condition because the car accident didn't cause it.

You might want to make sure the primary focus is on WHEN it occurred. (And granted, it occurred at the same time you had the car accident.) But regardless of whether it occurred from blunt trauma or repetitive stress - you were diagnosed with a pars fracture, you went from having no back pain to having back pain, and it started in the service.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/95848-overview#a0106

Spondylolysis is derived from the Greek word spondylo, which means vertebrae, and lysis, which means fracture. Spondylolysis is defined as a defect in the pars interarticularis of the vertebral arch. Often, it is described in association with spondylolisthesis, which can be found concurrently with spondylolysis. Spondylolisthesis is defined as the anterior or posterior displacement of a vertebral body on the one below it. These conditions are generally described according to the following classification of Wiltse, Newman, and Macnab^[19] :

• Type I (dysplastic): Congenital abnormalities of L5 or the upper sacrum allow anterior displacement of L5 on the sacrum, which can occur with the pars interarticularis remaining intact.
• Type II (isthmic): A lesion in the pars interarticularis occurs. This type of spondylolysis is subclassified as a fatigue fracture (IIA), elongation (IIB), or acute fracture (IIC).
• Type III (degenerative): This type of spondylolysis is associated with long-standing segmental instability and alterations in the articular processes with associated remodeling of the articular process.
• Type IV (traumatic): Acute fractures of the vertebral arch occur in areas other than the pars.
• Type V (pathologic): This type of spondylolysis is due to generalized or focal bone disease affecting the vertebral arch.

[63SIERRA]

I seperated in aug 1995.

heres what they put in the denial in sept 95.

The condition identified as pars defect L4 with spondylolysis is considered congenital or developmental defect which is unrelated to millitary service and not subject to service connection,

Service medical records for the period from 3/89 to 7-95 .. ( incorrect date as I joined in mar 1990. }. . show the veteran was in a motor vehicle wreck. on 12 - 1993 with complaint of pain and decreased range of motion of lumbar spine. there was tenderness and palpatations of muscle spams present. xrays showed a pars . 4 defect at l4 vertebre with spondyloliysis and without spondylis theses.

( this is not correct I do and did have the THESIS as well as sponyloliysis at time of accident and I have a medical slip from a doctor to prove it ). It clearly states , very legibly, (spondylolysisthesis).

There was a suggestion of compression fracture at L-3. A bone scan was done, in 12-93 showinf no spondylolisis or fracture, and was said to be within normal limits. The veteran was diagnosed with acute lumbar muscle stain due to the accident. In 12-94 he complained of low back pain following heavy physical activities, and was diagnosed with muscle spasms do to overuse. In 5-95 there was a full range of motion of lumbar spine with all test being normal. (I dont recall them ever checking or xraying my back in 5-95). No seperation examination is on record.

[63SIERRA]

there are may things they left out. They left out that my initial diagnosis was a broken back, and I was put in a back brace for a week, they left out that I was on deadmans profile for a month, and had several other sick call occasions for my back, and they left out on my exit physical I did complain of lower back pain. They just seem to pick and choose the evidence to suit thier case, not mine.

Now the most recent diagnosis. from a highly respected, chiropractor who took several xrays of my back, said that my conditon is definitley, spondylolysis thesis L-5 . s

Edited September 16, 2013 by 63SIERRA

[carlie]

they left out that I was on deadmans profile for a month,

Please define "deadmans profile".

Thanks