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nod appeal back injury

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Dqm71

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Hi

I'm appealing my 10% rating for Lumbar strain/sprain, ddd My injury occurred in 1993 in service but since then Ive had some accidents exacerbating my back pain muscle spasm.

Will va increase my rating based on increased pain? Any help appreciated. I'm also on SSD for my back.

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Spine is rated on either movement or bed rest.  (They dont prescribe bed rest anymore from what I see.) Forward flexion is the primary reason they give increases, but they also use extension, left to right etc in the regulations...but I have not seen that yet. If you can bend no more than 45 degree forward, you will max out at 20%.  Under 30 degree bend=40%. Just pain with any flexion issue past 45 degrees is 10%.  Exception to this is – If there is an abnormal spine contour (like scoliosis), or if you have muscle spasms, or if you guard your spine movements enough that you walk abnormally, then the condition is rated 20%.

http://www.militarydisabilitymadeeasy.com/thespine.html

Link is a detailed breakdown of the spine rating system.

They told me I had a strain also, turned out that it was a disc herniating out of the front of the spine, less pain misdiagnosed in 1979, 1980, 1982 and 1983 before my ETS. They also said I was born with scoliosis, so I lived with the pain for over 30 years.  Then a Spine Surgeon told me he saw my story before, the slipped disk caused scoliosis, and over the last 3 decades, it got much worse.  4 Level spine fusion and service connected now.  Back in the early 80s there was not such thing as an MRI, and it was common that herniated disks were misdiagnosed because they dont show up on xrays.

Suggest you find a good spine specialists, let him/her give you a good exam, and ask for an opinion about why you have been in pain so long. Take your records.

Edited by pwrslm
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