Pushing A General Pain Claim Through The VA System
Posted on: 24 August 2017
Some Veterans Affairs (VA) claims are based on conventionally observable evidence. A broken arm will have bruises, or evidence of breaking from an X-ray/other types of imagery, or expose to a chemical will show the chemical reaction either on the surface or during a blood test. Some problems caused by long past incidents that may have not been documented--or documented properly--can be difficult to prove while still being a major obstacle to a successful life as a veteran. Here are a few things to try if you don't know what to put in your pain claim, or if you need additional angles for your appeal.
Is It Nerve Damage?
Despite many advances in science, computing, and the generally impressive status of human technology, many things are a mystery or just hard to observe. Nerve pain is one of those issues, well-documented, known, and observed nerve damage can be hard to identify in many patients.
The issue is that many imagery techniques are still being refined. A CT scan (computerized tomography) can observe muscle damage, pinched nerves, severed nerves, and tumors in the body, but there are some subtle nerve damage situations that can go unseen with an MRI alone.
An Electromyography (EMG) test is more descriptive for nerve damage, but it still tests for some major forms of damage such as severed nerves, excessive pinching, or deterioration. Small lesions may not be visible, and may require an ultrasound.
Tension And Protective Response
Stress is another strange situation that can be difficult to pinpoint, and part of the problem rests with the English language. Stress is a heavy and specific term in the English lexicon, and many people consider any form of stress to be related to a known, stressful problem.
You don't have to be "stressed out" to have stress pain.
Psychological stress is real and can even be subconscious, but another form of stress could be from internal damage that the body doesn't translate properly. Shoulder pain, for example, could be an over-tuned response to spinal damage that you don't know about and can't feel in the spinal area. No back pain, but significant shoulder pain could be from the shoulder instinctively tensing up in muscle groups that you have no conscious control over--even with specific training.
Injury Law Can Help You Find The Answer
If nothing else, finding similar cases can help you try new things. In addition to finding claims with your symptoms that have succeeded, you can figure out which types of medical procedures or examination angles could be helpful.
This can be difficult if you don't know the legal and claim system language. Instead of digging around Google with your own search terms, explain your situation to a personal injury lawyer. Their specific injury experience can connect you with medical professionals skilled in writing detailed medical analysis, as well as library research of successful claims.
It's about more than sifting through folders, as some cases may be sealed or may use language that only injury law and claim system professionals would consider. Contact a personal injury lawyer, like one from Putnam Lieb Potvin, to discuss your pain and to work through a fully developed, exploratory, or presumptive VA claim.
Share