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Appeal Video Conference, S/c Back Secondary To S/c Knees

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USAFvet13

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Hello all, unfortuantely my first post must be one asking for help as I do not know what to do from here.

I have service connections for the following:

Right knee degen joint disease w/ slight subluxation 10%

Right knee patellofemoral syndrome with chondromalacia 10%

Left knee patellofemoral syndrome with chondromalacia 10%

My knee symptoms and pain started during my service in the USAF. I have a lot of medical records to prove this so getting s/c for my knees wasn't extremely difficult. My knee s/c disablities began in 2004. I had surgery on my right knee with a private doctor in 2005 and since then I have had back pain and problems. I have continuous medical records from different chiropractors to show my back problems.

Problem is I never had any of them connect my knee problems to developing a back problem until I decided to try to get s/c back secondary to knees. I was able to get an IMO recently from one chiro saying "........ I have reviewed xxxx SMR's and it is my professional opinion that his altered gait due to his bilateral knee complaints has contributed to his low-back pain."

Here is where the difficulty began. I failed to get all my chiro records and this letter to the VA before they made a decision on back secondary to my knees. So I was denied. I filed a NOD and during this time my chiro records and my IMO made it to the VA. Well, they denied me again. This time they are saying there is significant documentation in support of a back problem, but I am lacking evidence of an altered gait with the exception of one VA note, and the IMO I submitted. So I have now requested a board of vet appeal video conference hearing.

I just today came from an appointment with the physical therapy / rehab doc at the VA in hopes that she would back up the altered gait developing a back problem, but she wouldn't write me an IMO and didn't agree with me that its a possiblity my knee conditions contributed to my back condition... WTF? She said she has plenty of patients with knee/ankle problems that do not develope back conditions...

So now I'm not sure what to do. The DAV is helping me, and he even said it's common medical knowledge that if you ankle or knee get messed up it will have a chain reaction and eventually mess up your back.

Sorry for the long rant, I look forward to hearing some advice on what to do. Hopefully I have enough time to figure something out before my appeal.

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We had the same issue with my husband. The VA continued to deny due to "lack of evidence proving service connection." We finally got a good VA doctor who wrote one sentence in his file that completely changed everything. He wrote: Back pain secondary to service connected knee condition. My husband's doctor actually laughed and said, "They're all connected of course it's causing it."

Once that was put into his VA medical record, the claim for degenerative joint disease in lower back secondary to degenerative joint disease in knees was approved - after we requested a reconsideration. Turns out the rater didn't actually read all of the medical records submitted. So, the second time around I sent a copy of that page of his medical record with that sentence highlighted for them to see.

So, if you have a VA doctor who agrees that your back is secondary to your knees and is willing to make that statement in your VA medical records, that will help too.

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Thanks, I'll ask my Primary care doc and see what she says. My main problem is when i put in this claim it read something like "this is a claim for back condition due to altered gait caused by service connected knees"

So every time I have been denied they list the reason as no mention of altered gait in my records. They aknowledge a back condition exists, but because I only have mention of an altered gait found twice in my records I keep getting denied. Every C&P exam says gait normal.....but THEY NEVER CHECKED. This last one I only walked a max of 10 feet into his office and that was the only opportunity for him to see my gait. And I keep sending in letters telling them my gait becomes worse with more activity and that other movement patterns of mine are altered due to my knees like squating, stairs, lifting objects etc... and these cause pain because I have to compensate. But they keep coming back to the gait thing.

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  • HadIt.com Elder

Now that you have SOC you go to an ortho and get opinion that rebutts exactly what the VA has decided. The ball is not in your court again. Ask for another DRO Hearing or maybe even a reconsideration based on the new evidence you are going to get to rebutt the VA rating decision point by point. You need to go to MD's for IME or IMO. Forget chiros and PT's. Get a Personal Hearing with a decision maker. BVA means two years to get there. This thing is a game. The VA bats the ball to you and you bat it back until you win. Those who win are those who don't give up.

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I had just today called and scheduled an appointment with a local Chiropractor that is a state certified IMO, but after reading your post I think I will call one of the Orthos on my list to get the IMO.

Can I withdrawl my Form9 requesting a BVA hearing and instead ask for a DRO hearing even though earlier in my process I already did the De Noro Review?

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  • HadIt.com Elder

I think I would just ask for a personal hearing on your claim. It takes a long time for the VA to actually certify your claim to the BVA. You may get another bite at the apple while you still have a shot at the BVA. The key is to get a personal hearing and not just a review by some faceless rating officer. I would write a letter asking for the hearing and ask the VA to delay your BVA appeal until you get the hearing. I did this myself. Yes, and if the VA uses a MD to do your c&p it will top a chiro, so get the ortho to do the IME.

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I've decided to take a different route. I was going to ask for my BVA hearing to be put on hold until I can get a DRO hearing locally. But, instead I'm going to ask that my request for a hearing be waved, and that my claim go straight to BVA for a decision. The advice given to me was that I have really good evidence in my favor, and that hearings a lot of the times do not help anything and slow the process down. I'll keep my post updated as my claim goes on so that it may help others in the future.

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