Entitlement to TDIU which is Total Disability Due to Individual Unemployability, I think thats a topic that weve hit on a lot. I like it. Published on November 2, 2021 by Neil Woods Last Updated on August 16, 2022 One in three veterans suffers from some type of arthritis. Lets start at the basic level. It is a higher bar. Roser-Page S, Vikulina T, Zayzafoon M, Weitzmann MN. Jenna: Yes. The court has really made it clear that if you have a specific listed diagnosis. Theres a lot of case law on this, because it was kind of unclear for a long time whether or not you really had to have, if you were rated under 5276 for pes planus, did you have to really get that rating? Christian: Sometimes, like, between the service-connected disability and the non-service-connected disability. 7:25 Service Connection for Ankle Tendonitis Did I say plantar fasciitis can go up to 50%? Specifically, VA proposed to rename . Sometimes, if you have pes planus with plantar fasciitis, you might just get one rating under 5276 which is the rating for pes planus because some of the symptoms of plantar fasciitis overlap with the symptoms of pes planus. 1:37 Service Connection for Arthritis in Ankle A lot of times we dont even have that. We see it all the time. We talked about this a little bit at the beginning if you have a loss of use. They will compare your symptoms to that code and assign you a rating based on that. Lay evidence means both statements by yourself and also statements by people who have actually physically observed pain that you might be in. Patient perceptions around surgery, pain contribute to racial disparity in total knee replacement, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. The most common veteran orthopedic conditions are limited knee movement, back pain, paralysis of the sciatic nerve, and limited arm and ankle movement. If they issue a favorable decision, or a favorable opinion, excuse me, VA will hopefully grant you service-connection. Get more resources at VeteransCrisisLine.net. Jenna: you have to get that diagnostic code. Are you out of luck or is there something that you can do in terms of trying to get service connection, Alyse? Although the word arthritis actually means joint inflammation, the term is used to describe more than 100 rheumatic diseases and conditions that affect joints, the tissues that surround the joint, and other connective tissue. VA will look at your diagnosis. These cookies collect information about how you use our website. I mean that happens a lot. There is, like I mentioned, we have a Facebook Live about VA exams and so they go through, kind of, when VAs duty to get an exam is triggered. Dorsiflexion: Foot is raised. Ankle Disabilities and the VA - VA Claims Insider So, ankle conditions are common and they can lead to the development of other issues such as disabilities of the feet and of the knees. eCFR :: 38 CFR Part 4 Subpart B -- Disability Ratings Copyright 2023 Chisholm Chisholm & Kilpatrick LTD. All Rights Reserved. Youre literally thinking about cutting the body into fourths. Alyse: Or if youre on some type of pain medication for your foot condition and that pain medication causes a secondary disability. Maybe you can only stand for 5 minutes before the pain basically is too much and you need to sit down or maybe you can only walk to the other side of the room and then you have to kind of take a break or even if its not that severe. The Veterans who took part in the study reported, on average, about a 30 percent improvement in pain, stiffness, and function. You can actually have lost your foot anatomically. For ankle or achilles tendonitis, specifically, the VA assigns a disability rating depending on the severity of your tendonitis. Do You Have Long-Term Disability Insurance Coverage? To determine the rating for your ankle injury the VA will focus on two factors: flexion (limitation of range and motion) and pain. Getting the Highest VA Rating for Arthritis - Woods & Woods Jenna, do you want to talk a little about how VA rates foot disabilities? You need to get medical evidence to do that, but its an alternative way. If you have just treatment records that talk about foot pain without evidence of an injury, thats enough to, at least, get a reading by analogy under 5284. Christian: You pointed this out earlier, Jenna, the equally well-served by a prosthetic device. I think that kind of gets into what were going to talk about in a second, which is VA exams. Today, VA announced its next update: The musculoskeletal system and muscle injuries. Christian: There are some narratives sections type . They only rate you under 5276. Register for our Texas Veterans Benefits Virtual Town Hall! Jenna: Yes. At that point, a board would look at that and determine what rating you are warranted based on what the examiner says. Veterans might not realize that they can get VA disability for ankle arthritis. If your foot is basically useless, if you need assistive devices and it would be essentially the same amount of use if you had a fake foot, then you can have a certain amount of money from VA, assuming VA makes that finding for you and determines that its related to service. Thats a duty to assist there on VA. Christian: Anything new youd like to add, Jenna? You do have to focus on developing evidence that shows that the condition was not as bad before service as it is after service. 5284 is this weird catch-all diagnostic code for other foot injuries. What if you had a foot condition before starting your service? Veterans Law VA Disability for Ankle Tendonitis July 26, 2020 Updated: January 26, 2023 Overview of Ankle Tendonitis Ankle tendonitis (i.e., peroneal tendonitis) is the inflammation of one or two of the tendons that surround the ankle joint. Alyse: Still, it could get a pretty high rating, yes. It also has to be the same half of your body. The SMC special monthly compensation is just a little bit extra money on top of that. Christian: Thats sort of where it gets a little tricky. Jenna: Oh, yes. Sometimes, if you are working but arent making enough for or working on a various specific environment where youre being productive, you can ask VA to award you entitlement to TDIU. Things like that. Christian: We always have case law names running around in our head. I know we dont want to go too far out of the scope of this presentation. Jenna: I think its a couple of hundred maybe. A pilot study has indicated that tailored activity pacing like this reduces fatigue and makes daily activities easier. Christian: Its just not lumping them all as one. Another option for service connection is to claim arthritis as a secondary disability. You wouldnt get the bilateral factor for that. Jenna: Sure. VA is, more often than not, going to order a VA examination as long as there are some suggestion that your current disability is related to service. They dont give you that or even consider that an extra ratingunder 5284. Activity pacing is a strategy to plan rest breaks during the day, which helps to avoid arthritis flare-ups. Thats a whole thing that were not going to get into. VA began rulemaking to remove obsolete diagnostic codes, modernize the names of selected diagnostic codes, revise descriptions and criteria, and add new diagnostic codes. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. It is possible to have a service-connected foot disability and then have something secondary to that service-connected foot disability. VA Disability Rating for Tendonitis - Hill & Ponton, P.A. I think a lot of times, VA relies on that lack of treatment that, Jenna: 30 years or whatever it is to say, Oh, well, you clearly just dont have anything and now youre trying to claim something that just started. We talked about lay statements. I think, maybe. In late 2017, VA began a multi-year effort to revise and update the VASRD, or VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities. Elevated risk for autoimmune disorders in Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder, Pilot study of massage in Veterans with knee osteoarthritis, Cause-specific mortality in US Veteran men with rheumatoid arthritis, Group versus individual physical therapy for Veterans with knee osteoarthritis: results of a randomized clinical trial, Cheaper drugs produce same benefits for rheumatoid arthritis, In Veterans with RA, PTSD worsens disease activity, Arthritis drug may cause adverse side effects, Most common causes of death in RA patients, Adherence and persistence problems affect RA triple therapy more than TNFi combination therapy. Its pretty low. Hearing Loss: rated at 0% #4. VA rates ankle conditions as disabilities affecting the musculoskeletal system. Association of hyperlipidaemia, inflammation and serological status and coronary heart disease among patients with rheumatoid arthritis: data from the National Veterans Health Administration.Navarro-Millan I, Yang S, DuVall SL, Chen L, Baddley J, Cannon GW, Delzell ES, Zhang J, Safford MM, Patkar NM, Mikuls TR, Singh JA, Curtis JR. 4.22 - 4.23 - Rating of Disabilities Aggravated by Active Service/Attitude of Rating Officers. Limitation of Flexion of the Ankle, or AnkylosisDiagnostic Code 5270 Jenna: The regulation, all the VA Orthopedic Regulations are 4.71A. Tune in to learn the most common ankle VA disability claims such as arthritis in the ankle, ankle tendonitis, and ankle instability. To be eligible for a Knee Pain VA Rating, a veteran must meet three (3) criteria by law: #1. A couple of things to keep in mind with an examiner is you almost never will have actually have met that examiner before. Lets assume that a veteran is, I guess, maybe, we dont have to assume this. In 2019, the VA reported that there were approximately 5.2 million disabled veterans claiming a total of over 25 million disabilities. Its just if you have a separate condition thats rated at 10%. limited to, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and spondyloarthropathies. Its going to depend on what you have the loss of use or how many, basically, extremities you have the loss of use in. The answer to either of those options is yes. The foot is a pretty complicated part of our bodies. Jenna: If its opposite, if you have it on your in-service treatment exit exam but then you never got treatment after service but it continued to worsen and then finally maybe 30 years later, you finally decided that it isnt enough, Jenna: Yes.
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