-Independent Medical Opinions and Independent Medical Evaluations-

 

At 2Paratroopers, we specialize, at least for the time being, in musculoskeletal claims (this includes Podiatry claims). There are two reasons for this:

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 A) We have DEEP personal experience with these claims, and

 B) These claims are sometimes the hardest to get service-connected, and therefore require the 2Paratroopers Difference!

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Depending on the circumstances, musculoskeletal claims (your joints, your spine, your bones, etc.) can be very difficult to get service-connected for a variety of reasons, in particular the One Year rule, and the Continuity of Symptomology principle. Let’s talk about these for a moment.

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The One Year rule directs that claims for a musculoskeletal condition brought to the VA within one year of separation from service shall be considered presumptive. If your symptoms become problematic enough to seek treatment AFTER one year, however, you had better have documented Continuity of Symptomology.

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“What is Continuity of Symptomology?” you may ask. The definition is as follows:

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“"Generally speaking, veterans may qualify for service connection based on continuity of symptomatology if symptoms of a chronic condition have recurred regularly, without some intervening cause, since the time they left the military. Importantly, the symptoms must be present since the time you were in service, or since a short period of time after leaving the service, despite any intermittent periods of improvement."”

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In other words, if you suffered an owie while in service, it better have caused you pain pretty continuously since you separated, and you better have documentation of that pain, ideally in the form of private treatment records.

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You and I (and the entire medical community) know that your body doesn’t work that way; that post traumatic osteoarthritis doesn’t work that way. Joint disease doesn’t occur on a schedule. Plantar Fasciitis doesn’t wait for a starter’s pistol and doesn’t work on a deadline.

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You could be a fifty-year-old office worker who served as an Infantryman thirty years prior. That rucksack that was as heavy as a neutron star and sat nice and low on your lumbar spine? It wasn’t there for your health, that’s for sure. Didn’t go on sick call for that knee pain because your First Sergeant would’ve made you pay dearly for any profile you wound up on? Of course your “service treatment records are silent” (in VA parlance) for any such complaints. Because complaints were punished.

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Nobody told you before you signed up that this would be your reward for your service, and nobody told you when you separated that you had better document any after-effects of that service from Word Go, and that you had better hold onto those documents. And nobody told you that the VA was running a stopwatch on your ailments and injuries.

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This is life as the aging combat arms veteran knows it. And this is where the 2Paratroopers Difference becomes critical. We offer:

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1) Independent Medical Opinions (aka the Mother of All Nexus Letters)

2)Independent Medical Evaluations (aka DBQs, but we offer full comprehensive workups)

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Our nexus letters are by far the best you will be able to honestly obtain for your musculoskeletal claim. They are, in essence, scholarly papers; rich with medical citations and BVA Caselaw citations and capturing the tiniest detail relevant to your claims. Previous denial for your claim? Our Orthopedic Surgeons and Podiatrists will likely spot all flaws in the VA examiner’s rationale and be able to rebut it.

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There are people in this field, acting in good faith no doubt, that will tell you to keep your nexus letter short and sweet. We understand their reasoning, and we respectfully disagree. Every little stressor your body underwent while in service cannot be captured by “short and sweet.” The peak vertical ground reaction force your joints sustained on that bad parachute landing cannot be captured by short and sweet. And…believe us on this one…every flaw in the VA rater’s rationale for denial cannot be captured by short and sweet. Most importantly- if your case goes before BVA judges, short and sweet will not help you.

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Only the Mother of All Nexus Letters will help you.

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Regarding Independent Medical Evaluations and DBQs (Disability Benefits Questionnaires), please note- the VA will, at some point in the claims process, invite you in for one or more C&P examinations and DBQ examinations. The VA’s DBQs and C&P examinations are absurdly inadequate to the task of truly identifying the real degree of disability, any real gait abnormalities (VA examiners will mark your gate as “Normal” without performing Gait Analysis, our Doctors of Physical Therapy offer real Gait Analysis), or any number of compensable conditions. They will use these exams to rule out conditions they are not designed to identify.

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Let me say that again: They will use these exams to rule out conditions they are not designed to identify.

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In theory, the VA examiners are neutral players in a system that is ostensibly “weighted on behalf of the veteran.” In practice, these exams are often used for developing “negative evidence” for “Development to Deny.” Read up on the meaning of Develop to Deny, and you’ll get a better understanding of how the system is “weighted on behalf of the veteran.”

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For an Independent Medical Evaluation, our Doctors of Physical Therapy offer the following:

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Being movement specialists, our Doctors of Physical Therapy will assess your physical movement/mobility that may be caused by stiffness, discomfort, chronic conditions, or damage from injuries. In fact, our Doctors of Physical Therapy are able to assess you for the following:

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-Musculoskeletal system (muscles, bones)

-Nervous system (brain, nerves)

-Cardiopulmonary system (heart, lungs)

-Integument system (skin, touch/feel)

Common conditions Doctors of Physical Therapists assess are:

-Back pain

-Carpal tunnel Syndrome

-Urinary incontinence

-Trigger finger/trigger thumb

-Lymphedema

-Cerebrovascular accident (CVA)

Doctors of Physical Therapy also assess conditions related to trauma which can include, but are not limited to:

-Spinal cord injuries

-Rotator cuff tears

-Temporomandibular joint disorders

-Concussions

-Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

-Cerebral palsy

-Multiple sclerosis

-Muscular dystrophy

-Parkinson’s disease

-Cystic fibrosis

-Traumatic brain injury

An assessment may identify:

-Range of motion (active/passive) limitations

-Strength deficits

-Gait dysfunction

-Postural abnormalities

-Balance insufficiency

-Motor processing/planning difficulties

-Sensation/coordination impairments

-Cranial nerve deficiency

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If you’re interested in the best Nexus Letter possible or the best Physical Therapy workup possible from the most highly-credentialed medical experts in this business, please contact us and pull the trigger on the 2Paratroopers Difference!