Re-filing a claim that was deemed not service connected

[dethnode]

Ok, first let me say, I am sorry for the long winded post, and also if this is not in the proper place.

I served on active duty USAF for 7 years from 2003 to 2010.  Prior to joining, there were no instances of ever having back problems or even a day of back pain.  During my service, I had several documented lower back pain clinic visits.  Most of the time, I was given a exemption from physical training and some Ibuprofen. On three occasions, I was sent to physical therapy and to chiropractic services.  Never were there any advanced imaging tests performed.  After I separated in 2010, I did not file any claims for disability.  I continued to have back problems that I would go see my primary care physician for and would be treated with muscle relaxers and/or steroids.  In 2012, a friend that I kept in touch with from service told me I should go and file a claim, so I did.  I filed for three issues (knee pain, back pain, and shoulder pain) on the advice of my VSO. The knee pain I had before I went in and it was documented before I went in, so I figured that to be a waste of time.  The shoulder pain was just a click in my shoulder that was not really painful and caused no difference in my daily life so I did not see that as relevant. However, the back pain did not start until I joined service, and had become an issue that was more often painful that it was not painful.  So I filed, and went to my C&P and they did an X-ray and ROM test for all three claims.  Several months later I got a letter in the mail (to the wrong name) but with my information, that all three of the claims had been deemed not service connected.  

I was fresh out of college and just starting a new job, with newborn son, and basically running in every direction just to get day to day things accomplished and at the time the back pain while a pain in the butt, was more of a nuisance than anything else. So from that time until last 2015, I have been treated by my PCP approximately 2 or 3 times a year with steroids and muscle relaxers for lower back pain, and have seen a chiropractor on occasion.   In 2015, I had a flare up of back pain, that sent me to my doctor, this was different, it was the same pain but much more intense.  The PCP said it sounded like a herniated disc, but that they would treat it with physical therapy.  I asked "can we please do an MRI to confirm"? His response was that the MRI is an expensive test and that it is better to do the physical therapy and see if it gets better. Well over a 3 month period of physical therapy it did gradually get better but did not return to the same.  Then, 1 month ago, while picking up a pair of shoes, I could not stand back up, every attempt to straighten my lower back was met with excruciating pain.  I was home alone with 3 children, my wife was at work.  My youngest (7 months old at the time) was in his crib crying, and I was stuck on my hands and knees.  I called my wife who came home to help.  But when she attempted to help me stand, my legs were numb (like not there numb), the pain in my lower back when attempting to stand sent me into screams of pain.  We had no choice but to call for an ambulance to take me to the ER.  When they placed me on the stretcher and straightened my lower back, for the first time in my life, I blacked out.  At the ER they finally ordered an MRI, and it was confirmed I had a herniated disc, with several fragments pressing against the nerve root. They referred me to a neurologist and he recommended I let it wait 4 weeks to self heal and then determine if I wanted surgery.  Two weeks in, I called him and said schedule the surgery. I had paid radiating down my right leg.  I was unable to sit, drive, stand, walk.  The only thing I could do was lay on my side with my knees bent 30 degrees.  He performed the surgery and said that things were worse than the initial MRI, he said he did remove several bone fragments from my nerve root, and that I had sever disc degeneration to the point that there is almost no disc left.  He said I am likely looking at fusion in the next 5 to 10 years. 

 

So, now that brings us to present day.  I have called a different VSO and scheduled an appt. I am going to re-file my claim.  Is there any chance of this turning out favorably for me?

[Berta]

The type of nexus you need means he/she will need a complete copy of your SMRs, and since the knee is not a chronic disability,there has to be something  else documented in your SMRs as to why you got medical attention for back pain.

 

[dethnode]

SMRs, Service medical records?  

I was seen while in the air force for knee pain, but I do not have knee pain now.  The knee was something the DAV in 2012 wanted me to claim.  The lower back however, I was seen during service on multiple occasions.  There was never a specific injury like falling off of a ladder or truck or anything, just pain.  But I was seen, it is documented that I had complaints of lower back pain, and was given medication and physical therapy, but never any advanced imaging.  No Xrays or MRI.  Now, I have had an MRI since I got out, just prior to my surgery last month.  Is the several visits to sick call for lower back pain enough to connect my degenerative disc disease to service?  

[dethnode]

So, I had my appointment with my DAV yesterday, he said in his opinion the VA really screwed up not service connecting my back in 2012 when I originally filed my claim.  He also said I screwed up by not appealing it, but that we will re open the claim and then apply for an early effective date for the back.  

 

I am curious about the C&P.  At my last appointment, in 2012, I went and they asked me to bend forward, I bent as far forward as I could and pushed through what pain I had.  Same with all the other range of motion tests.  I was a martial artist for several years, and although I had nerve related pain, my muscles were fairly loose and I could bend beyond the level that I experienced pain.  

 

I can no longer bend and touch my toes, but I can still bend beyond where i experience pain.  Especially since my surgery last month.  My question now is this, when I go for my C&P how far should I bend, as far as I can, or as far as I can without pain?