Why was I misdiagnosed with arthralgia? Can I start a claim for my Cervical Kyphosis with an uncharacterized discharge?

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 21:44:56 -0500

Greetings to all who read this.
Long story short...shipped to basic on Nov. 19 and after a month and a half I got hurt bad (I slipped 2 times during a 7 mile ruck) after that, sever joint pain on my neck, shoulders and upper back, along with headaches. The sick call Ibuprofen and “walk it off, drink water cure” didn’t help. After another month I got chaptered out with “arthralgia” EPTS and ELS. No mentioning off my neck, back and shoulder pain on my military medical records, just the “arthralgia”. I’ve never in my life suffered from “arthralgia”, neck, shoulder or back pain. Went home, visited a Doctor, got x-rays and got diagnosed with Muscle Spasms, Cervical Kyphosis and chronic tension-type headaches. Doc back at home said I don’t have arthralgia and unlikely to develop it at my age. My contract says that I was in complete health and fit for service before basic. Now, a 25 year old man, can’t even carry 20 pounds because of what happed to me over at the ruck. So, Why was I miss diagnosed with arthralgia? And can I start a claim for my Cervical Kyphosis with an uncharacterized discharge? I got all the medical evidence and documentation.

Response by PO3 Donald Murphy made Feb 10 at 2020 10:07 PM

PO3 Donald Murphy — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 22:07:46 -0500

Stay away from the VA. Instead - find your local DAV branch and book with them. They navigate through all the tape and road blocks for you. They accomplished for me in six months what it took me six years on my own to do. Live and learn.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 10 at 2020 10:30 PM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 22:30:41 -0500

EPTS = existed prior to service.
ELS = Entry Level Separation.
Arthragia = joint pain.
Cervical Hyphosis may be caused by an injury, or could be congenital.
Your challenge is overcoming the diagnosis for whichever condition the Army determined was EPTS.

Response by SFC William Farrell made Feb 10 at 2020 11:36 PM

SFC William Farrell — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 23:36:33 -0500

SPC Private RallyPoint Member I’d listen to PO3 Donald Murphy get an outside doctor to do your evaluation. I’d also check with your own doctors from when you were younger to see if any of that is in your record. My spine is a mess due to service connected issues and I had to fight them every step of the way.

Response by SFC Melvin Brandenburg made Feb 10 at 2020 11:37 PM

SFC Melvin Brandenburg — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 23:37:54 -0500

see a veterans service organization ASAP, and get documentation from medical providers that show there was no previous evidence of your conditions.

Response by PO1 Wood Michael made Feb 11 at 2020 12:21 AM

PO1 Wood Michael — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 00:21:02 -0500

You need to file a claim with VA. You will get a exams. Be sure you have you need records and be sure to bring copies of you civilian medical records

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 11 at 2020 1:06 AM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 01:06:40 -0500

You can start a claim whenever you would like, are you going to be successful? Probably not. When you were being processed out, you were informed of the findings and agreed ( by signing) that the injury existed prior to service. No one forced you into that discharge.

The Cervical Kyphosis is going to be a hard one to prove and you will not likely win that fight either unless you have imaging from before serving of your neck, and imaging following your slips.

Response by SGT Robert Pryor made Feb 11 at 2020 6:41 AM

SGT Robert Pryor — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 06:41:59 -0500

SPC Private RallyPoint Member As one who has actually worked in this field (VA benefits), both as a paid professional and volunteer, I can tell you there is some sage advice offered in this thread. First I will explain a few things. When determining service connection, the VA ONLY considers if the claimed condition was caused or aggravated by your military service. Having a preexisting or congenital medical problem is not a bar to benefits if it can be shown that the condition was made worse by your service. The fact that you were misdiagnosed on active duty may be a problem when not fought through VA as soon as possible following separation. See comment from SFC Melvin Brandenburg, time is of the essence. VA gives infinitely more weight to accurate and current diagnoses than something that can be shown to have been an erroneous diagnosis in your service medical records. See advice from SPC Celestino Alicea. Another factor the VA will consider is were you on active pay status at the time the claimed condition was incurred or aggravated. From what you wrote, I'd say the answer is "yes," you were on pay status at the time of your ruck march. They also consider if it was due your own willful misconduct. I don't see any indication of that here. Length of service is NOT germane to your claim, nor is your uncharacterized discharge. That matters to DOD, but not to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Those departments have different and unrelated standards, so don't get them confused. Your next steps should be:
1. Follow the advice of PO3 Donald Murphy and do not file with VA directly.
2. Google, or use the VA website va.gov, the location of your nearest VA Regional office.
3. With that information Google the contact information for a nationally accredited Veterans Organization (DAV, VFW, AMVETS, The American Legion, MOPH, etc.) colocated at the VARO. It is probably best not to go to the local Chapter or Post -- go directly to a National Service Officer.
4. Contact the the National Service Office of your choice.
5. File your claim with that NSO.
6. Follow the National Service Officer's advice on how to best develop your claim, some of which has been correctly summarized in other messages here.
7. Quit reading this and get started!

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 11 at 2020 9:38 AM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 09:38:51 -0500

Here's the deal in brief:
The Army determined in official records that you have arthralgia that existed prior to service (EPTS). What that means is that you are going to have to show that this adjudged preexisting condition was aggravated by service,
Any treatment records you have that is contemporaneous to the injury are VERY RELEVANT to you getting a favorable outcome. I hope you have those.
Timing is also very relevant for you. You will want to file this ASAP, as issues arising within a year of discharge are presumed to be connected to service. In other words, your neck doesn't hurt because you fell in your own driveway at home. (This happens a lot, something we find in civilian medical records during development).
Characterization of discharge doesn't matter (so long as it is not OTH or worse), so that it is Uncharacterized is not in play.

The bottom line is you wiped out in a ruck and got hurt. That happens in military training. I biffed it myself tromping around in the snow on Sunday, and my knee (and ego) still hurt. Get after it with the guidelines I gave you as soon as possible and you have a great chance to get a favorable rating.

Response by SPC Richard Zacke made Feb 11 at 2020 12:38 PM

SPC Richard Zacke — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 12:38:16 -0500

I was injured in 78-79 in a bulldozer accident...long story. I had my first back surgery in 1981 at level L4-L5-S1 thats in the lumbar area. I used the American Legion National Service Office and very glad I did! The Army diagnosed me with a pulled hamstring and the doctor at home did an x-ray and saw a fracture in my lumbar spine. To date I have had 7 lumbar surgeries and 1 neck surgery but they are about to do another fusion of my neck at two more levels.
The condition you have Cervical Kyphosis is also strangly known as Military Neck and can be caused by trauma...it is known as military neck because your neck is "at attention" straight without out the nessassary curve needed to allow the nerves to exit the spinal canal without being compressed or pinched. It causes a variety of conditions like headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain, sharp pain running down arms and usally numbness or tingling in your fingers or the tips of them. As you age it will get worse and they will call it DDD...Degenerative Disc Desease. Take it from me you want to avoid surgery if possible due to scar tissue. Thankfully they have come a long way with spinal surgery over the years...like my last two surgeies they used stem cells...I was forced to send a letter to The White House because the VA was complianing about the cost. The WH contacted my local VA center and things started happening at an alarming rate.
In 1994 the VA made me 100% TDIU and paid me for six years of back pay...nice chunck of change... but you can't let your claim go more than a year without so kind of action or you lose all back pay. Good luck SPC Private RallyPoint Member