Secondary carpal tunnal and secondary cubital tunnal injuries

[gousto0731]

Hi everyone I saw my Doctor yesterday and I asked and received a IMO for carpal tunnel and cubital tunnel syndrome secondary to right shoulder injury.

A little history I'm receiving

20% Rt shoulder,

20% Lt shoulder secondary due to over use

 10% Lt Biceps due to over use

I would like to know if this is enough to claim service connection for my hand and forearm  due to over use ?

Here goes nothing .

Work Status: NOT ABLE to work at present. Estimated to be permanently disabled from this injury to the left shoulder.

He has night symptoms which keep him up at night.

Patient demonstrates weakness and numbness in the left hand and forearm consistent with carpal tunnel and cubital tunnel . This is causing him to be unable to utilize his upper extremity and this is related to overuse and repetitive actions. 

 

[Vync]

21 hours ago, gousto0731 said:

Hi everyone I saw my Doctor yesterday and I asked and received a IMO for carpal tunnel and cubital tunnel syndrome secondary to right shoulder injury.

A little history I'm receiving

20% Rt shoulder,

20% Lt shoulder secondary due to over use

 10% Lt Biceps due to over use

I would like to know if this is enough to claim service connection for my hand and forearm  due to over use ?

Here goes nothing .

Work Status: NOT ABLE to work at present. Estimated to be permanently disabled from this injury to the left shoulder.

He has night symptoms which keep him up at night.

Patient demonstrates weakness and numbness in the left hand and forearm consistent with carpal tunnel and cubital tunnel . This is causing him to be unable to utilize his upper extremity and this is related to overuse and repetitive actions. 

 

Hey Gousto,
The IMO appears backwards. For secondary SC, the SC disability has to be shown to cause/contribute to an additional disability. The way it is written states that your non-SC wrist/forearm issues are causing you SC shoulder. The VA might buy it as written if they don't read it carefully, but in my opinion, it should be the other way around.

Paraphrasing, it should state the overuse/repetitive actions which damaged your shoulder are "as likely as not" (50% likely), "more likely than not" (75% likely), or "is due to" (100% likely) to have caused your wrist/forearm issues.

Of course, only one of the % likely phrase of your doctor's choice should be used. I just listed all of them so you could present it to the doc so the proper jargon can match his opinion.

If he can expound more on the medical rationale, it can help strengthen your claim. Explaining how your overuse/repetitive shoulder injury contributed to your wrist/forearm injuries. Something like overuse/repetitive use of shoulder placed additional strain on his wrist and elbow, etc...

I hope this helps