Elbow Hurt In Service ..should I Claim Now Or Later?

[c&p man]

i went to sick call when i hit my elbow on a picket in the army they said soft tissue injury on report.. i been out of service for 10 years and i just been sucking it up and not complaining...i going to start seeing and complaing to the dr this week.. i have 2 claims in now for reconsideratrion affect date of 2009 march 30..so it is very recent my question is should i go ahead and claim increase of elbow from 0 percent right now...or should i get mediacl eveidence first? it hurt and i have some limited motion....

[purple]

the first questions that comes to mind is........how has your elbow felt over the past 10 years? have you been getting consistent medical treatment for it? if so, what is the specific injury? if not, why?

if you haven't been getting any treatment for the past 10 years,i think the VA will jump all over that.

[WHOLESALE]

Is your elbow S/C now or not? If it is already service connected at 0% then apply for an increase now. By the time they decide your claim or examination you will have several months of history in your medical file. This will substantiate your claim for increase.

Jay

i went to sick call when i hit my elbow on a picket in the army they said soft tissue injury on report.. i been out of service for 10 years and i just been sucking it up and not complaining...i going to start seeing and complaing to the dr this week.. i have 2 claims in now for reconsideratrion affect date of 2009 march 30..so it is very recent my question is should i go ahead and claim increase of elbow from 0 percent right now...or should i get mediacl eveidence first? it hurt and i have some limited motion....

[c&p man]

If it's already SC'd and bothering you, more, why would you wait? Since it is already SC'd the VA will have to give you a C&P exam and waiting would just cost you money. jmo

pr

ok sorry i need to elaborate more.... i went to sick call in service for it adn they said soft tissue injury....i complain about it to va but they NEVER wrote it down they was focused on all my other stuff.....my elbow is not sc and i ahvent no eveidence that i went for treatment for it ..... as i have read your guys post it sounds like i need to build up medical eveindce first and claim later? since i have claims in now....or should i just claim it as i will make sure they write something downand exam it xray etc..this week and in the future..... so i have a event in service need for it to be chroinic and present DIAGNOSE right?

[c&p man]

Sounds to me like you're grasping at straws, trying to SC this. If you went on sick call it should be documented, somewhere. Trying to prove this happened in the service may be difficult, if not impossible, unless there is some type of proof. Just because you say so doesn't cut it. The VA considers us all to be less than truthful. jmo

pr

its in my smr if you have read all the threads will see this...by the way i am not being a d--- h---if it sounds like it...i hurt it in service and its documented on my smr medical records as a soft tissue injury of the right elbow.....

[purple]

can you elaborate on what you mean by "soft tissue injury"? as that covers a very wide range.

[WHOLESALE]

I would still go ahead and file. It's not like their going to decide your claim in the next three months anyway. By then you will have your complaints on file and an IMO connecting your current elbow problems to the soft tissue injury in service.

Jay