Posted on Mar 13, 2023
What should I do to deal with my ongoing knee problem while trying to switch branches and not wanting my health records to prevent that?
Suspended Profile
387
15
5
I have an ongoing knee problem. My knees usually only hurt badly when I walk up a couple flights of stairs or run more than a certain distance. I do what I can during runs until my knees start to give then I walk the rest. My 1SG won’t let me continue and wants me to keep getting profiles every week. I am trying to switching branches and I don’t want my health records to prevent that. What is your best advice?
Medical
Profiles
Posted 2 y ago
Responses: 4
I recommend going into the medical system and getting fully evaluated for your knee problems. You should not try to conceal it from the military because you're worried about how it might impact your career options. Aside from potentially being deceitful, you could make your knee problem even worse. In the bigger scheme of things, the military is a young person's game, and you'll eventually have to leave the service. However, your knee problems could be a life-long issue if you try to ignore it for short-term gain and make matters even worse. Focus on your health and think long term.
First thing I would do is make sure that your knee problems are documented in your records since in my experience it doesn't go away. There are some treatments that can make a difference and they work better if started early. I'm doing sodium hyaluronate injections that allow me to be functional and not eat Naproxen all day, and I didn't start it early. Eventually you will want it on record for the VA.
I would talk to my career counselor. Those guys can usually tell you what is possible and what isn't.
I would talk to my career counselor. Those guys can usually tell you what is possible and what isn't.
You have to look at some hard truths with your knees. If your knees start to act up after a few flights of stairs you need to focus more on your knee issue and less about lateral moving to another branch, mos or anything else. Regardless of your military career stairs aren't going away anytime soon so the common factor to address is your knee problem. Weekly profiles clearly aren't fixing the issue. Go to your Primary Care Provider and start walking the dog on addressing your knee issues. You can't hide from this. Military medicine all falls under DHA now. You can't keep your medical history a secret and to think you can you are only fooling yourself.
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In addition to Kevin's suggestions, I wouldn't worry much about your knees being a problem unless they actually impact upon your MOS duties. I'm not talking about not being able to do the unit runs during physical training or testing, but actual MOS impact.
What you described would be a much bigger MOS impact to an 11 series, but I would gather that it wouldn't be as much for a 88M, especially as you go further up in the NCO ranks. If it IS impactful on your duties, then yes - I'd probably be looking at reclassing. However, IF you are deemed as not being able to physically meet the requirements of your MOS, the Army will run you though a board and reclassify you to some other MOS [IF it comes to that].
As a side note: I spent most of my career on a perm profile for my knees since I screwed them up royally as a company grade officer. Yeah, I had looks thrown at me for not participating in unit fun runs and even a few occasion comments about the 'turtle brigade' when the runners passed the walkers on the track during APFTs. However, it wasn't a career impact.