MEB for Knee Pain

A

arnil9

PEB Forum Regular Member
Registered Member
Hey Everyone,

I'm stationed at Fort Lewis( MOS 92F) and I started my med board in jun 2011. I'm getting med boarded for chronic patellofemoral pain syndrome. I went through three months of physical therapy with no result. They had MRI and Xray taken nothing showed up on the results. I was then referred to ortho and he advised me that i should start MEB after telling me my knee looks fine. As he could not do surgery as the pain would get worse as I get older. I was put on p3 with no running, squatting, repetitive bending exercises and can carry only 10 to 20 lbs. I did my QTC appointments and the doctor told me that he thinks my condition is bad and i should look forward to better things outside the army. I'm still waiting on my NARSUM to see what the finding are! My question is can that if nothing shows up on MRI and Xray. I'm still popping pills for pain. Based on my NARSUM would I be able to determine if I would be considered if I meet retention standard ? The thing that worries me is what am I to expect from PEB?

I would really appreciate if somebody could lead me in the right direction. thank you

~Nick
 
You & I share the same story, if you found out anything it would be helpful. One question though, will there be a medical retirement compensation or not?
 
Same here. I did a IDES for knee pain after 2 surgeries and got 10% sep. with severance.
 
If they have not found anything while doing xrays/MRI I really doubt that you will get any significant rating, let alone a medical retirement. More often than not, pain comes from something (an injury, nerve, tendon, ligament or bone issues). If nothing shows up on scans it sounds like the pain is psychosomatic. And what would they have considered even doing surgery for, if your Ortho Dr. said that your knees look fine? The NARSUM will generally give you the doctor's opinion on what is going on, to include if they feel you meet retention standards or not. I know tons of people who are still serving with knee problems, as they will just get a '2' rating in their PULHES, so 112111 for the issue, and be limited to walking on the PT test or some other restriction.
 
From what I've gathered about this condition is the following:
Doctors diagnose BPS using x-rays to determine patellar alignment and MRI scans to see if there is soft tissue damage. As a last resort, they may look at the knee joint and the condition of the underside of the patella using arthroscopy.​

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My husband has the same problem but it's his ankle and he did have surgery. His PA is putting him through pain management and then after that the PA is referring him to a MEB. I'm afraid since they aren't finding anything on his x-rays or MRI but they did find a non-cancerous tumor during surgery that he may get stuck like you guys above! Keep updating the information as it will be very helpful for others!
 
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