Secondary Lower Back Issues

[Papa]

I'm in the process of submitting a claim for a lower back injury that I received during military service. The VA denied me once saying that I never had a back injury during my military time. I now have written proof that I in fact did injure my back. Currently, I have been diagnosed with Cavovarus feet with column overload, significant Venous Stasis, Bursitus of the Hips and Thighs, Knees, etc. I have ask the doctor that sent me this report if my injury during my military service could have likely caused all these problems, but I would like to get my Hadit friends comments, that I respect a lot.

[Pete53]

I was told to put a board under my mattress, I probably would have been better off without it.

[Papa]

I always wondered how they expected me to left up a mattress and plywood with a damaged back .

[Papa]

I went the other day to a hospital on an out patient procedure to have a Pain Doctor inject me in the spine. They told me that I will need two more of these. I refused to be sedated, and when they hit that nerve, oh holy cr*p I came straight up. The second time it made me jerk extremely hard. Maybe next time I will take the sedation.

Papa

[sixthscents]

It is important to note that the VA can and will service connect a knee, hip or lumbar spine injury secondary to a foot injury that is service connected.

For exaplpe let us use Pes Planus, flat feet... now with a vet who has service connected flat feet, then they can at a later date file for an increase in compensation (or they can file for this in their original claim if it exists at that time of course) for an injury to the knees that is secondary to the injury to the foot.

In short the VA does recognize that an injury to the lower extremity, be it foot, knee etc can and does cause injuries at later dates due to instability and a "shift" in the bearing weight etc. The VA will NOT (in my experience) rate anything above the lumbar spine as secondary to a lower injury, so they are NOT going to bite on a claim that a cervical injury was the result of an earlier damage to the feet. They stop at Lumbar when going up.

I have had a lot of success getting claims like this thru, but you have to churn away at them. They deny you NOD etc. Like I said I have had lots of success with them. A key item of evidence is the C&P exam itself. It helps if the doctors physical assesment dovtails with the injuries you claim and an IMO that states it could have been or was caused by the improper throw of the weight etc... well those certainly help.

Bob

[sixthscents]

I dont bother with pain blocks now as they are ineffective, but I had them many times and I was never sedated. I have had well 6 or 7 myleograms and was never sedated. I gotta be honest, I don't know why they would offer sedation for this - yeah it's painful no lie there (wow it really stinks, the myleogram especially) but I dobnt know what the would give, maybe valium or something?

And yes I have actually had 6 or 7 (cant remember which) myleograms. Honestly and for true. They are, IMHO (stolen from carlie AGAIN) much much better at locating spinal chord injuries than an MRI. They actually show how well the nerve is working compared to both sides etc.

EMG's are also good to show exactlly which nerve has been injured etc.

Bob

[rdnkjeeper]

I have had emgs, but they haven't "shown" any damage.....A doc the other day was telling me that an emg is good when there is a lot of damage and constant. They don't work so well with stuff that comes and goes.