Posted on Apr 18, 2019
Am I going to be discharged for an incidental finding of spina bifida occulta?
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Have a back injury due to gym class. Had a ct acan which shows a incidental finding of spina bifdia occulta. They are threatening me with a medical discharge. The injury is not relate to this finding and I have had no problems due to the finding. I have passed basic and am supposed to be leaving for ait in 2 months I was split option. I want to stay in currently I have med notes not to do drill. I can do pushups ok but sit ups hurt and running hurts. I am going to more aggressive therapy now and hope to be better. Will they send me to air for a second opinion can I fight to stay in.
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Yes you can fight to stay in. I have the same diagnosis and I stayed until retirement. You have to get strong and stay out of the medical facility for back issues. If you start "cycling" through there, they will use it to discharge you. Work on your abs. Do planks.
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PV2 (Join to see)
Do you believe they will send me to ait ? Or do you think rsp will make me pass a pt test before going. My medical note covers me for both remaining drills. I would rather go to ait and try my hardest and push through the pain while giving it two more months to heal then to make it worse now before I go to ait.
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There is no set in stone answer. As LTC Brown said, with the same condition until retirement and they were just fine. This will probably come down to if your Drill Sergeants will vouch for you behind closed doors or not. The Army is a business, so on paper it makes no sense for them to try and retain you and potentially lose money on you if you might be pushed out medically in the future.
You say they are "threatening you" with a medical discharge. Does that mean your provider was saying, "they should have found this before you enlisted at MEPS, this is a disqualifying factor for service." or have they just mentioned that you may have to be medically discharged dependent on how severe this is or how it affects your performance.
Do sit ups and running hurt due to this injury in "gym class" (what is gym class in basic training??) or do these activities hurt due to this very recent injury? If its the latter, then you can push on the provider saying the spinal deformations have never bothered you in your life and this is an acute injury that you will recover from and drive on.
You say they are "threatening you" with a medical discharge. Does that mean your provider was saying, "they should have found this before you enlisted at MEPS, this is a disqualifying factor for service." or have they just mentioned that you may have to be medically discharged dependent on how severe this is or how it affects your performance.
Do sit ups and running hurt due to this injury in "gym class" (what is gym class in basic training??) or do these activities hurt due to this very recent injury? If its the latter, then you can push on the provider saying the spinal deformations have never bothered you in your life and this is an acute injury that you will recover from and drive on.
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SGT Nicholas M.
PV2 (Join to see) - I am trying to establish a correct timeline here.
You *possibly* tore a muscle in your back in high school.
You enlisted in the Army after a recruiter most likely asked if you had any medical issues. Went to MEPS where they probably asked you plenty more times if you had any issues to report.
Got to basic training and I am *assuming* you went to sick call for back pain, so you got put on a profile for no sit ups and no running and are currently going through physical therapy to rehabilitate yourself.
Somewhere in there, the Army took a CT scan of your lower back and they found that you have spina bifida (vertebral deformations) and are considering medically discharging you due to this.
Is all of that more or less correct?
You *possibly* tore a muscle in your back in high school.
You enlisted in the Army after a recruiter most likely asked if you had any medical issues. Went to MEPS where they probably asked you plenty more times if you had any issues to report.
Got to basic training and I am *assuming* you went to sick call for back pain, so you got put on a profile for no sit ups and no running and are currently going through physical therapy to rehabilitate yourself.
Somewhere in there, the Army took a CT scan of your lower back and they found that you have spina bifida (vertebral deformations) and are considering medically discharging you due to this.
Is all of that more or less correct?
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PV2 (Join to see)
SGT Nicholas M. I am in highschool doing split ops. I did basic training last summer and went back to school while going to rsp. In Nov I was injured during gym class at school. In dec I had x-ray. In Feb I had mri and in april I had the ct scan. The doctor has not made a diagnosis my pain has gone down from a pain level of 8 to 2. I have since switched physicsl therapy doctors and am trying more aggressive therapy.
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SGT Nicholas M.
PV2 (Join to see) - Holy Hell Batman... I apologize as I have never heard of whatever "split ops" is and doing basic training while still in high school. I apologize, but I really have no advice or experience on this situation. Best of luck to you though! I hope you can continue to serve, if that is what you are looking for!
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