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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USAFvet13
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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