Spinal compression fractures?

J

jjcampbell

Well-Known Member
Registered Member
I've looked through a lot of posts here but I'm trying to get a better understanding of my back condition. I was placed on TDRL in 2013 and PDRL earlier this year. When I was going through my MEB, I had my back checked out since I had been having increasing pain over the years. I never pushed getting it checked out for the countless obvious reasons most Soldiers don't (until I knew I was being MEB'd). The doctors didn't do much during my last year before being placed on TDRL (MEB) & I think it had a lot to do with not having a documented "history" of my back pain.

I've been out now for over a year and finally got x-rays of my spine. The report says I have "mild straightening" of the lumbar spine and "mild to moderate anterior compression deformity of the upper thoracic spine on the lateral view and of unknown chronicity." I am waiting to see my doctor about the results and finally have an appointment w/ a pain management specialist. All the research I found so far translates anterior compression "deformity" to "fractures". I was scheduled for physical therapy and pain management before I even got my x-ray results.. now I'm not sure what else will happen.

My back pain has been become increasingly severe over the past year and I usually feel like I have to convince doctors that my pain exists. The VA rated me at 10% but their reasoning was simply because I continued to be seen about it my last year in. I'm assuming I probably injured my back at some point between deployments and quite a few hard airborne landings and who knows what else...

At this point, does anyone have any experience with this condition and what should I expect? I'm more concerned about getting an idea of what I need to do medically and do not even care about trying to increase my VA rating for it right now.

Any advice would be appreciated!
 
@jjcampbell

Sorry to hear your in pain.

The processes that have caused changes in your spine are not unusual, especially in some MOS/AFSCs. Unfortunately the specifics of how they manifest and potential treatment are manifest. It would seem to me that your ought to be lobbying for a MRI and referral to a neurologist and possibly a neurosurgeon. An MRI would better show any effects the bone changes are having on soft tissue.
 
I've been out now for over a year and finally got x-rays of my spine. The report says I have "mild straightening" of the lumbar spine and "mild to moderate anterior compression deformity of the upper thoracic spine on the lateral view and of unknown chronicity." I am waiting to see my doctor about the results and finally have an appointment w/ a pain management specialist. All the research I found so far translates anterior compression "deformity" to "fractures". I was scheduled for physical therapy and pain management before I even got my x-ray results.. now I'm not sure what else will happen.



I am having similar problems. Mine has been documented as "irregular straightening" of the lumbar spine. So far three x-rays and all show the same thing. The VA's reasoning was that I could have been positioned in a way (all 3 times) that the x-ray shows my spine to have irregular straightening.

ChaplainCharlie, you say changes in your spine are not unusual especially in some MOS/AFSCs. I don't know to much about the medical side of things but I believe my problems started with the blast pressure from several controlled blasts on one particular mission. After the mission I had a large bulge (about the size of a fist) in my lower back and could barely stand and had no movement in one of my legs for a couple of days. Would blast pressure cause something like this? 2 weeks down from missions and I seemed ok but was extremely sore. Ever since this happened nothing feels right from running, sitting/standing, and putting on socks and shoes.

jjcampbell, have you started any physical therapy? I did a class for a while but only learned some stretches that would relieve pain temporarily. I have heard some guys mention using a TENS Unit for the pain. I will usually lay flat on the carpet and that more than likely eliminates most of the discomfort after 20 minutes or so.

Also, not sure how related this is, but I have shrunk. I am a fairly healthy 31 year old male and according to army records with height and weight I have shrunk close to 1.5 inches since October 2012. The VA has "assured" me it is not related and nothing to be concerned with since I am young and healthy. I'm not buying it. Like you jjcampbell all I would like is to know what the severity of the problem is and that I will have everything done to make it feel better or be corrected. The VA gave me a 10% rating for my back as well. I felt like that was the hard part. They don't take the description of the pain to serious. It's all about the ROM which I know is what determines the rating, but the pain and discomfort and not being able to do simple shit like pick my kids up, or sit up straight out of bed, sit on the couch, even just bending over the sink to wash my hands causes pain.

Hope things work out for you. I'll be trying to get an MRI schedule and see what they can determine from that.
 
landmine said:
I've been out now for over a year and finally got x-rays of my spine. The report says I have "mild straightening" of the lumbar spine and "mild to moderate anterior compression deformity of the upper thoracic spine on the lateral view and of unknown chronicity." I am waiting to see my doctor about the results and finally have an appointment w/ a pain management specialist. All the research I found so far translates anterior compression "deformity" to "fractures". I was scheduled for physical therapy and pain management before I even got my x-ray results.. now I'm not sure what else will happen.



I am having similar problems. Mine has been documented as "irregular straightening" of the lumbar spine. So far three x-rays and all show the same thing. The VA's reasoning was that I could have been positioned in a way (all 3 times) that the x-ray shows my spine to have irregular straightening.

ChaplainCharlie, you say changes in your spine are not unusual especially in some MOS/AFSCs. I don't know to much about the medical side of things but I believe my problems started with the blast pressure from several controlled blasts on one particular mission. After the mission I had a large bulge (about the size of a fist) in my lower back and could barely stand and had no movement in one of my legs for a couple of days. Would blast pressure cause something like this? 2 weeks down from missions and I seemed ok but was extremely sore. Ever since this happened nothing feels right from running, sitting/standing, and putting on socks and shoes.

jjcampbell, have you started any physical therapy? I did a class for a while but only learned some stretches that would relieve pain temporarily. I have heard some guys mention using a TENS Unit for the pain. I will usually lay flat on the carpet and that more than likely eliminates most of the discomfort after 20 minutes or so.

Also, not sure how related this is, but I have shrunk. I am a fairly healthy 31 year old male and according to army records with height and weight I have shrunk close to 1.5 inches since October 2012. The VA has "assured" me it is not related and nothing to be concerned with since I am young and healthy. I'm not buying it. Like you jjcampbell all I would like is to know what the severity of the problem is and that I will have everything done to make it feel better or be corrected. The VA gave me a 10% rating for my back as well. I felt like that was the hard part. They don't take the description of the pain to serious. It's all about the ROM which I know is what determines the rating, but the pain and discomfort and not being able to do simple shit like pick my kids up, or sit up straight out of bed, sit on the couch, even just bending over the sink to wash my hands causes pain.

Hope things work out for you. I'll be trying to get an MRI schedule and see what they can determine from that.
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Wow, your symptoms are exactly like mine, got 10% from VA. Army told me it wasn't an unfit condition. Bulging disks, fractured fissures, AND I have been seen for my back pain for about 15 years, but all they did was push pills. I finally got an xray and MRI the past year (that is the only reason I know about the discs and fissures). I hate feeling like I have to defend myself or convince a doc that I am in pain. It really angers me when someone questions my integrity, and suggests that I am exaggerating or lying, when you have those other dirtbag's that do exaggerate and lie...AND THEY BELIEVE THEM!
 
Sorry to hear about the same struggle antknee77. Keep on fighting them though, that's all we can do. There is nothing more frustrating when they doubt your pain or question how you still manage to do things. Life has to go on and we will always figure out a way to get the mission done.

Hope things start to get better as far as the pain and treatment. As far as the docs, I don't see that changing. I get their position to question things but some times it is quite obvious, like what your case appears to be. X-rays and MRI's can't be manipulated to show an injury that doesn't exist.
 
landmine said:
Sorry to hear about the same struggle antknee77. Keep on fighting them though, that's all we can do. There is nothing more frustrating when they doubt your pain or question how you still manage to do things. Life has to go on and we will always figure out a way to get the mission done.

Hope things start to get better as far as the pain and treatment. As far as the docs, I don't see that changing. I get their position to question things but some times it is quite obvious, like what your case appears to be. X-rays and MRI's can't be manipulated to show an injury that doesn't exist.
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Thanks for the motivation! I am going to fight. I have some friends in the VFW that have acquired some high positions that I'm hoping can help me get re-evaluated and re-appeal if necessary.
 
Step one is to understand how the condition is rated per the VASRD. To that end you can go to the Board of Veterans Appeals and search for cases similar to yours. This will help match up your symptoms with that of the VASRD rating criteria to determine if you are being rated correctly. I presume this is not the condition that put you on PDRL. Did the VA due a range of motion test? If so, what were the results?

Mike
 
Be very cautious when considering back surgery, expend all other avenues of treatments before going that route. My flight surgeon once told me that the two expected results from surgical intervention is 1) it doesn't get any better and
2) it gets worse. I went through every conservative treatment that the WTU could throw at me including Physical Therapy, Radio Frequency Ablation, injections you name it. The WTU finally conceded that this aviator was beyond broke and authorized surgery off base for decompression on L5-S1 bilaterally. I wished I had not done that, period. After surgery pain management was an issue so spent 3 days in the hospital trying to get that under control. The Neurosurgeon that did the surgery has an outstanding reputation and most of her patients have had decent success post surgery but not this cowboy. I had another surgery after I was released off active duty in May 2014, I slipped this last spring and on Good Friday had another L5-S1 bilateral because of a floating bone fragment that they (Docs) were concerned about loss of feeling in the lower legs. Everybody is different, everybody heals differently. I just wanted to share my experiences with the forum because I believe that if I could roll back the hands of time I might have made a different decision. Good luck with whatever option you choose.
 
akbanone said:
Be very cautious when considering back surgery, expend all other avenues of treatments before going that route. My flight surgeon once told me that the two expected results from surgical intervention is 1) it doesn't get any better and
2) it gets worse. I went through every conservative treatment that the WTU could throw at me including Physical Therapy, Radio Frequency Ablation, injections you name it. The WTU finally conceded that this aviator was beyond broke and authorized surgery off base for decompression on L5-S1 bilaterally. I wished I had not done that, period. After surgery pain management was an issue so spent 3 days in the hospital trying to get that under control. The Neurosurgeon that did the surgery has an outstanding reputation and most of her patients have had decent success post surgery but not this cowboy. I had another surgery after I was released off active duty in May 2014, I slipped this last spring and on Good Friday had another L5-S1 bilateral because of a floating bone fragment that they (Docs) were concerned about loss of feeling in the lower legs. Everybody is different, everybody heals differently. I just wanted to share my experiences with the forum because I believe that if I could roll back the hands of time I might have made a different decision. Good luck with whatever option you choose.
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maparker said:
Step one is to understand how the condition is rated per the VASRD. To that end you can go to the Board of Veterans Appeals and search for cases similar to yours. This will help match up your symptoms with that of the VASRD rating criteria to determine if you are being rated correctly. I presume this is not the condition that put you on PDRL. Did the VA due a range of motion test? If so, what were the results?

Mike
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Akbanone, thanks for the feedback. I've been told by several that have had back surgery that it was not worth it.

Mike, They did do the motion test. I talked with my VFW rep yesterday, and he explained that they don't care about pain levels or severity of disc bulging or vertabrae damage, it is range of motion that they go off of. Unfortunately for me, I kept going (on direction of the nurse practiioner) even though I was in severe pain. My VFW rep said that it was common, and that honestly, a 20% rating for my back is actually good, because he has seen much less.
 
antknee77 said:
Akbanone, thanks for the feedback. I've been told by several that have had back surgery that it was not worth it.

Mike, They did do the motion test. I talked with my VFW rep yesterday, and he explained that they don't care about pain levels or severity of disc bulging or vertabrae damage, it is range of motion that they go off of. Unfortunately for me, I kept going (on direction of the nurse practiioner) even though I was in severe pain. My VFW rep said that it was common, and that honestly, a 20% rating for my back is actually good, because he has seen much less.
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In my opinion, please don't settle for any DoVA rating due to "bad" information provided by the nurse practitioner if your medical condition's symptomology doesn't accurately reflect the criteria within 38 CFR VASRD.

In retrospect, I have a PEB-referred "unfit for duty" lumbar medical condition which required an ALIF fusion surgery while still on active duty in the U.S. military. As such, during the lumbar DoVA C&P Examination, the VA clinician used the "eye-balling" approximation method instead of the required goniometer tool for official the ROM testing. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful in obtaining another VA C&P examination to override the faulty lumbar ROM testing while in the MEB phase.

Indeed, his "eye-balling" approximation method resulted in a VA 20% proposed rating for my lumbar medical condition, but that didn't accurately support my current ROM symptomology. After the submittal of a VARR request due to being struck by a SUV as a pedestrian while in the PEB phase, the civilian medical documentation showed medical evidence that a goniometer was used during the ROM testing of my lumbar medical condition.

As a direct result, the DoVA D-RAS DRO made a recommendation for an increased VA 40% proposed rating for my PEB-referred lumbar medical condition and it was approved by the D-RAS. To that extent, the aforementioned "increased" VA rating should have been adjudicated originally by the D-RAS, but it wasn't due to the VA clinician's use of the "eye-balling" approximation ROM method.

Thus, I quite often comment that "possessing well-informed knowledge is truly a powerful equalizer."

Best Wishes!
 
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Warrior644 said:
In my opinion, please don't settle for any DoVA rating due to "bad" information provided by the nurse practitioner if your medical condition's symptomology doesn't accurately reflect the criteria within 38 CFR VASRD.

In retrospect, I have a PEB-referred "unfit for duty" lumbar medical condition which required an ALIF fusion surgery while still on active duty in the U.S. military. As such, during the lumbar DoVA C&P Examination, the VA clinician used the "eye-balling" approximation method instead of the required goniometer tool for official the ROM testing. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful in obtaining another VA C&P examination to override the faulty lumbar ROM testing while in the MEB phase.

Indeed, his "eye-balling" approximation method resulted in a VA 20% proposed rating for my lumbar medical condition, but that didn't accurately support my current ROM symptomology. After the submittal of a VARR request due to being struck by a SUV as a pedestrian while in the PEB phase, the civilian medical documentation showed medical evidence that a goniometer was used during the ROM testing of my lumbar medical condition.

As a direct result, the DoVA D-RAS DRO made a recommendation for an increased VA 40% proposed rating for my PEB-referred lumbar medical condition and it was approved by the D-RAS. To that extent, the aforementioned "increased" VA rating should have been adjudicated originally by the D-RAS, but it wasn't due to the VA clinician's use of the "eye-balling" approximation ROM method.

Thus, I quite often comment that "possessing well-informed knowledge is truly a powerful equalizer."

Best Wishes!
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Well, I can't say that I'm satisfied with any of it, but I am thinking of taking his approach to that and other disabilities (especially the 0%). He said he has had some appeals last 3-6 years, and they are now attempting to work on that to shorten the time, as they did with IDES. However, he said, if I start to be seen at the VA and there are records that indicate that the rating is unsubstantial, then it is easier (quicker) for me to submit the additional medical evidence to request a higher rating, than request an appeal. He said the higher rating requests take 3-6 months, sometimes less.

Thank you again for your feedback.
 
I had the same thing happen to me; (seems to be a trend) the C&P Doc did not use the goniometer to measure ROM for the neck or back; he merely wagged them. I made a comment about him not taking measurements and his reply was that "I have all the documentation I need" which was BS. After conferring with my ex Flight Surgeon he recommended I see a specific Physical Therapist on my dime who just so happened to have retired from the Air Force and therefore knew how to conduct accurate measurements. Those numbers coupled with the numbers I got from the Neurosurgeon that fused my neck and conducted two back decompressions should assist me in my upcoming C&P reeval.
 
antknee77 said:
Well, I can't say that I'm satisfied with any of it, but I am thinking of taking his approach to that and other disabilities (especially the 0%). He said he has had some appeals last 3-6 years, and they are now attempting to work on that to shorten the time, as they did with IDES. However, he said, if I start to be seen at the VA and there are records that indicate that the rating is unsubstantial, then it is easier (quicker) for me to submit the additional medical evidence to request a higher rating, than request an appeal. He said the higher rating requests take 3-6 months, sometimes less.

Thank you again for your feedback.
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Understood and no worries; you are welcome! :) Take care! :cool:

Thus, I quite often comment that "possessing well-informed knowledge is truly a powerful equalizer."

Best Wishes!
 
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