Denied For Joint And Muscle Pain

[fatboy55900]

Hello and thanks for any help and insight you may give.

I was recently denied for joint and muscle pain. The VA gave the following information: Service connection for muscle and joint pain is denied because this disability is determined to result from a fall with subsequent deconditioning, which neither occurred in nor was aggravated by service.

In Desert Storm, I fell off of a tractor and trailer loaded with rockets. I was treated at a field hospital and was placed on 2 weeks bed rest. I submitted Statement in Support of Claim from my Platoon Sgt., Asst. Plt. Sgt., and several other soldiers including myself detailing the incident to the VA in 2010 when I mistakenly filed for Arthritis instead of joint and muscle pain. Since Desert Strom, have since been treated by the VA and my local doctors concerning the injury and I have presented medical records and evidence in support of my claim.

I contacted my VSO and had him reopen my case for consideration of the statements of claims and I also sent him copies of the Statement of Claims for the VA. (Had a different VSO when I initially applied in 2010.)

Is this what I should have done?

With the wording of the decision, do I stand a chance for connection if I can prove that I fell off the truck and injured myself or will I get further run around?

[71M10]

A lot of this will depend on the objective medical evidence. Do you have any x-rays/MRI's/PT notes in your SMR's that document the specific cause of the pain? If it comes down to pain with no noted/primary cause they are going to keep messing with you, the fact that people saw you have an accident doesn't prove that you gained a chronic condition.

What fall are they indicating caused your current condition? Do you have proof of continuity of symptomology for the period between your in-service injury and the subsequent fall they are citing for causation? Did you file for service connection for the in-service injury at ETS, what did your exit physical show?

If you can post an actual copy of the decision (with personal information blocked out), it will help people evaluate your situation.