Shoulder Injury

[museic]

So i'm going to meps in the next couple of weeks and I have a little issue. I injured my shoulder in september, had an MRI and everything and everything was negative. I was given naproxyn for rotator cuff tendinitis, along with PT, and there was "clinical evidence of a labrum tear". however like i said i had an MRI with the ink injected and everything was negative. Currently on my medical records it says that as of the most recent visit(12/18/08) that I was 100% but that there was still clinical evidence of a tear so they decided to let me go and to come back in two months if i had pain. My shoulder has been better then ever and i've been doing a ton of pull ups/push ups in the last few weeks to get ready for PFT/PLC for the Marines and ive had zero pain so i didnt ever reschedule...any opinions on this?

I'm also going in for an air contract so does anyone think that this would screw me on a flight physical?

thanks for the help

 

[feddoc]

Well, as long as you are pain free and have full range of motion...the docs will check, I doubt it will be an issue. An additional plus is the most recent visit results.

 

[museic]

Well, as long as you are pain free and have full range of motion...the docs will check, I doubt it will be an issue. An additional plus is the most recent visit results.

ya i'm hoping it won't...the only other thing is that in the records it states that MRIs only pickup 80% of labrum tears but like I don't even have pain sooo...the rep at the OSO said the marines don't like this because of the required pull ups but still i didn't have surgery and don't have pain/have full range of motion and 5/5 strength...

thanks for the input.

oyeah forgot to mention that the reason for the clinical evidence is that my shoulder kind of clicks(noted as crepitus in the documents.) when its moved around at around the 90 degree position, as does my right but not as much...its important to note that this does not effect motion at all.

 

[2ndGen]

As far as not going back to get the final check out, that came back and bit me when I had a similer situation. Although I had a reconstruction and never went to my last appointment, MEPS wanted me to get checked out and given the all clear be a civ doc before they would even look at me. All in all, if your not applying for a waiver I think you are fine.

 

[FlyinRock]

Geez... I'm not a doc so can't address the specifics of your question. But, I am a pilot of many years, a jock of sorts, got a terrible tear of some muscle and ligaments in my shoulder that required surgery and a very painful 18 months of recovery. (In addition to many years of nefarious activity that caused more than a few physical damage control problems)
Part of the damage happened in a very innocent manner and it wasn't until I could not reach to my back pocket without severe pain that I knew something was wrong. then did all the MRI, yadda yadda, surgery, yadda yadda, rehab yadda yadda yadda en enfenitum(sp).
Now, sometimes when I wake up, I have extreme pain when I articulate my (like that word?) arm/shoulder but it is transient. Do I consider that to be dibilitating (just full of good words this morning)? No because it is transient. Am I concerned? Not really but I know I'm gonna experience some pain from time to time. Will it affect my performance? I certainly hope not but at least now I am cocked and locked to expect potential problems and have a game plan to deal with contingencies (am I on a roll or what?<gg>)
When you do your flight physical, are you going to complain about every freaking headache you ever had? How about you decide what pain really is and if it has a real affect/effect on your performance. If you are able to do all the required tests within standards, only you have to know what it cost in terms of pain or grit. Then its up to you to decide if you can perform as expected if the SHTF. Factor in who is counting on you to get their ass out of trouble .......
There is a lot more to all this than meets the eye.
BTW
My whole body is starting to ache now just reading this thread
Semper fi
Rocky

 

[museic]

Geez... I'm not a doc so can't address the specifics of your question. But, I am a pilot of many years, a jock of sorts, got a terrible tear of some muscle and ligaments in my shoulder that required surgery and a very painful 18 months of recovery. (In addition to many years of nefarious activity that caused more than a few physical damage control problems)
Part of the damage happened in a very innocent manner and it wasn't until I could not reach to my back pocket without severe pain that I knew something was wrong. then did all the MRI, yadda yadda, surgery, yadda yadda, rehab yadda yadda yadda en enfenitum(sp).
Now, sometimes when I wake up, I have extreme pain when I articulate my (like that word?) arm/shoulder but it is transient. Do I consider that to be dibilitating (just full of good words this morning)? No because it is transient. Am I concerned? Not really but I know I'm gonna experience some pain from time to time. Will it affect my performance? I certainly hope not but at least now I am cocked and locked to expect potential problems and have a game plan to deal with contingencies (am I on a roll or what?<gg>)
When you do your flight physical, are you going to complain about every freaking headache you ever had? How about you decide what pain really is and if it has a real affect/effect on your performance. If you are able to do all the required tests within standards, only you have to know what it cost in terms of pain or grit. Then its up to you to decide if you can perform as expected if the SHTF. Factor in who is counting on you to get their ass out of trouble .......
There is a lot more to all this than meets the eye.
BTW
My whole body is starting to ache now just reading this thread
Semper fi
Rocky

well pain is not my concern at all...just passing meps. I've heard so many stories about people getting dqed for stuff that I get a bit paranoid...especially considering i'm pretty pumped about going this summer, assuming everything works out. and no i'd rather not tell them anything at my physicals but some stuff (like doctor visits your employer had to pay for) you can't just "forget" about.

 

[museic]

was temp. dqd and my OSO sent up for my waiver request...God i hope it goes through...they said i was dqed for chronic shoulder pain even though I don't actually have pain...

 

[feddoc]

Kinda hard to understand where the chronic pain diagnosis comes from. Could be that MEPS will have a specialist take a look at your shoulder, take you through some standard range of motion exercises...maybe hear the clicking and then say that you pass. Post the results here.

 

[museic]

i'll be sure to update as soon as I know more...the OSO said it will take two to three weeks for the waiver to get approved. the doctor based the dq off of medical files that were faxed up to meps before I even had a chance to schedule a visit.

 

[museic]

BUMED denied the waiver. However the OSO said come in this June and we can figure out a plan of action for next summer. I'm assuming the DQ is Temporary since they told me to come back in June. I guess my next plan of action is to have surgery on my shoulder but that is ok. This gives me a whole year to physically prepare for next year so in a way its kind of nice but in another it sucks because my future is uncertain. Either way I'm going to give it all I can to get in.

Any advice as to where to go from here?

also my OSO said with the shoulder injury and a history of ADHD they denied me a waiver but the thing is I thought ADHD was not a big deal anymore...when I asked whether it was more the shoulder or the ADHD he asked if I had been off the meds for a year which I said yes and he said that it was definetly the shoulder and that ADHD was not a big deal at all. Initially I was told i was DQd based on only the shoulder...any thoughts on this?

Edit: Just found out that it is a permanent DQ...but still they said that there is a slight chance i could become eligible. What I do not understand is a permanent DQ means its an injury that dosen't change and your screwed with that branch but if i have surgery it would fix the problem so techniqually it could change with time...not to mention I had just talked to a candidate that had two shoulder surgeries and was approved...any advice on all of this would be much appriciated.