Newbie Here And Need Some Advice

[daveinky]

Hi all, My name is Dave and I live in the hills of eastern Kentucky. I have a service connected rating of 10% on my left knee. When discharged, they called it Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome. When I received my award letter, the Va is calling it Ostearthritis of the left knee and awarded me 10%. To make this not too long of a story, I have finally settled back down in my home state of Ky. and went to the local VA clinic at the first of the year and got registered there. They scheduled me an appointment with a Dr. and I also saw the DAV rep. When I had my first visit with the Doc, he asked me to tell him everyhthing that was bothering me, which I did. Obviously my knee was one, right shoulder which had bothered me for a few years(not sure how it was hurt), and my lower left back which had recently started hurting ( not sure what happened to it either). Doc scheduled me for x-rays on all three and I went a had them x-rayed. Three months later I get an appointment and find out the results of my x-rays. By this time, by back is hurting all the time, my knee has always hurt since the original injury, and shoulder just comes and goes. X-rays just show arthritis in my knee, bone spurs in my shoulder, and slight scoliosis and just arthritis in my lower back. He ordered an MRI for my back since the pain I was decribing didn't quite fit what showed in the x-ray. When I went back for the results of the MRI on my back, I asked the Doc about getting an MRI on my knee. He told me they wouldn't authorize an MRI on my knee, and they could just give me an anti-inflamatory or drain the fluid if there was visible swelling or possibly a steroid injection. So, my question is, how do I go about getting new evidence about my knee if the VA won't do anything other than an x-ray? I know my knee has gotten worse and I believe it's more than just arthritis. I can't afford to have an MRI done on my own. I also believe my back problem is related to my knee and am trying to tie the two together and possibly make a claim for that as well. Any suggestions and /or advice would be appreciated. Thanks, Dave

[Vike17]

Dave,

If you're applying for an increase in evaluation for your knee, which you should, you do not need any x-rays or an MRI. The rating is based on limited range of motion (how far you can flex and extend it). One thing you should do is ask the doctor if you have any lateral instability with the knee, and if so, he should document that also. I say this because the knee is the only joint that can receive two rating with out pyramiding. The only thing you need to show VA is that your current service-connected knee has worsened, and the recent vists alone should suffice for this purpose.

Another thing you should do is ask your doctor if your current back disability was caused by your knee (abnormal gait). If this is the case have your doctor put this in writing and file a claim for "lower back condition as secondary to your service-connected left knee."

Hope this helps!

Vike 17