Transcription
Your back didn't just go bad. The military shook it apart. Every convoy you rode in, every helicopter you flew on, every generator you worked next to, every tank, every Humvey, every 5-tonon, every Blackhawk you rode on. Hours, days, years of vibration traveling up through your seat, through your spine, through your joints, rattling your body apart from the inside. It's called whole body vibration and the medical research is very clear on this. It causes degenerative disc disease, herniated discs, chronic low back pain, sciatica, and joint damage. Did anyone warn you about this? Did anyone say, "Hey, 10 years of riding in military vehicles might destroy your spine?" Of course not. They just handed you the keys and said, "Good luck. Learn how to do this."
But here's what most veterans don't realize. For certain military jobs, the VA should be conceding your vibration exposure. Your MOS or job becomes the evidence. You don't have to prove you rode in vehicles because your job title proves it. And even if your job isn't on that list, you can still get service connected. You just need to know how to document it. And today I'm going to break down vibration exposure, what it does to your body, which jobs qualify for concession, and how to win your claim, even if your MOS or military job isn't considered high risk.
Now, I am Dr. Marshall Bar, an actual doctor, an Army Ranger, and a former CMP examiner. And I spent years bouncing around in vehicles myself that were never designed for comfort. They were designed for functionality. My spine remembers every pothole that I bounced over in Iraq. So, let's dive into it.
Now, let's start with what wholebody vibration actually is because understanding the mechanism will help you explain it to the VA better. So, whole body vibration is exactly what it sounds like. Vibration that travels through your entire body, usually from a vibrating surface that you're sitting or standing on. Now, in the military, the main sources are going to be things like vehicles, Humvees, MRAPs, tanks, Bradley's, five-tonons, LMTVs, anything with wheels or tracks. It can come from aircraft like helicopters, especially helicopters, but also cargo planes, fighter jets, anything that shakes. It can come from heavy equipment like generators, compressors, jackhammers, power tools. It can even come from watercraft like small boats, rigid hole inflatable boats, patrol craft.
And here is the thing, military vehicles are not designed for comfort. They are designed to survive in a combat scenario. That means stiff suspensions, hard seats, and consistent vibration. And unlike a civilian who might drive a truck for an eight hour shift and then go home to a comfortable chair, you were living in that environment, riding for hours, sleeping inside the vehicle, sometimes conducting operations from the vehicles day after day, deployment after deployment. So, let's just say you did three deployments and on each deployment you spent an average of four hours a day in vehicles over 12 months per deployment. That's over 4,000 hours of vibration exposure just from deployments alone. Not counting all the training, the field exercises, and garrison time. So, what do you think 4,000 of the What do you think 4,000 hours of vibration does to your spine?
I'm going to show you exactly what the medical research says. The connection between whole body vibration and spinal injuries is not speculation. It's established medical science. Studies going back decades have shown that occupational vibration exposure increases your risk of degenerative disc disease. The discs in your spine, they act like shock absorbers. Constant vibration accelerates the wear and tear on those discs and they begin to dry out. They flatten. They bulge. They herniate. Veterans with vibration exposure develop discs years earlier than civilian counterparts with similar age and activity levels.
Condition number two, it causes herniated discs. When a disc herniates, the inner material, well, it pushes out and can press on your nerves. That's where you get that shooting pain down your leg. The sciatica, you get numbness, tingling, and even weakness. Sometimes vibration exposure is a known risk factor for disc herniation.
Condition number three, it causes chronic low back pain. Even without a specific disc injury, whole body vibration causes chronic inflammation and chronic muscle fatigue in the lower back. That constant micro trauma, it begins to add up over time.
Condition number four, it causes cervical or neck spine problems. It's not just your lower back. The vibration travels all the way up, especially in helicopters and aircraft where you're also wearing a heavy helmet cuz your neck takes a beating. I mean, vibration exposure has also been linked to things like joint pain and early degeneration, especially hips and knees. Linked to peripheral neuropathy, which is nerve damage in either your hands or feet. Linked to circulatory problems. Linked to digestive issues. I'm being serious. Yes, this isn't my back hurts because I'm getting old. This is occupational injury caused by the specific conditions of military service. And the VA needs to understand that if your back is destroyed and you never connected it to all those years of military vehicles, then hit subscribe because I will break down the exposures nobody tells you about.
So, let's talk about how the VA views all of this. So, here's where it gets interesting. For a lot of veterans, for certain military jobs, the VA should concede your vibration exposure based on your MOS or occupation alone. You don't have to prove you rode in vehicles. You don't have to document every convoy because your job title is the evidence. This is the same concept as the fast letter for noise exposure. The VA recognizes that certain jobs inherently involve certain exposures.
Now, I'm not going to read you a hundred of MOS's or occupations. That would put us both to sleep. But let me give you the category so you can figure out where you fall. So, category one, if your primary job was operating or crewing a vehicle, you're in the strongest position here. So tankers, calf scouts, Bradley crew members, motor transport operators, truck drivers, AAV crewmen, your entire job was being inside a vehicle. Vibration exposure is inherent to that position. The VA should concede it.
Category number two is if you flew as a pilot, a crew chief, a door gunner, a load master, a flight medic, that means you had significant vibration exposure. I mean, helicopters in particular produce intense vibration. Rotary wing aircraft are notorious for it, but even cargo planes and fighter jets transmit vibration through the entire airframe.
Category number three, man, these are my infantry guys, infantry, combat engineers, artillery. If your job involved regular mounted operations, you had definite vibration exposure. Modern warfare is vehicle ccentric. Even infantry spend huge amount of times in vehicles moving to objectives, conducting mounted patrols, traveling between FOBs.
And then category number four, if you worked on vehicles or operated heavy equipment, that means you had vibration exposure. So things like running engines, power tools, heavy machinery, all sources of occupational vibration. Now the principle here if the nature of your military job required you to regular operate ride in or work on vibrating equipment your MOS or military job supports your claim.
So what do you do? Well in your personal statement just explain what your job involved. You describe the vehicles and the equipment you used. You estimate the hours of exposure and you connect it to your current claimed condition. So here's an example. You could write something like as a 91 Bravo, my duties regular required operation uh of or exposure to whatever vehicles over the course of how many years of service you were in. I estimate I accumulated approximately x hours of whole body vibration exposure. This exposure is consistent with and inherent to the duties of my military occupational specialty. Here's the point. You're making the connection explicit. You're not hoping the raider figures it out. You are literally telling them how to figure it out.
Now, what if your MOS or military job wasn't primarily vehicle-based? Maybe you were admin. Maybe you were intel. Maybe you were a medic attached to a unit, but your MOS doesn't scream vehicles. That doesn't mean you can't get service connected for vibration related conditions. It just means you need to document your actual exposure. So, see the difference is this. High-risisk MOS means your job title is the evidence. The VA should concede exposure. Other MOS's, your experience is the evidence. You need to document what you actually did. And this matters because here's the truth. In a combat zone, everyone rides in a vehicle. The admin clerk on a FOB, they rode in convoys for resupply. The intel analyst, they traveled between bases. the chaplain, they visited forward units. But if your MOS or job in the military doesn't obviously involve vehicles, the VA isn't going to assume you had vibration exposure. You will have to tell them.
So, here's how you document vibration exposure when your military job or MOS isn't considered high risk. So, step one is write a detailed personal statement describing your actual exposure. Don't just say, "I rode in vehicles." Be specific. What vehicles did you ride in? Was it Humvees, MRAPs, helicopters, five tons? How often was it daily, weekly? For how many hours at a time? What were the conditions that you drove under? Was it rough terrain, long distances, unpaved roads? How long did this last? Was it months, years, multiple deployments? So, here's an example. Although my MOS, whatever that was, my duties during deployment to say Iraq from this state to this date required extensive travel by military vehicle. I regularly participated in convoy operations and traveled between forward operating bases in Humveys and IMRAPs. I estimate I spent an average of X amount of hours per week in vehicles over the course of my X-month deployment. The roads were predominantly unpaved and uneven and the vehicles transmitted significant vibration due to the rough terrain.
Step two, get buddy statements from people who witnessed your exposure. So ask fellow service members who rode with you, NCOs who can confirm your duties required vehicle travel. Literally anyone who can say, "I saw this guy or gal in those vehicles regularly." Now, the buddy statement should confirm that you've regularly rode in military vehicles, the frequency and duration of that exposure, and the conditions. Was it rough terrain, long convoys, whatever it may be.
Step three, for claims with documentation gaps, you're likely going to need what's called a nexus letter. Why? Because a nexus letter from a qualified medical provider can explain the mechanism of whole body vibration injury, can connect your current spinal condition to your documented exposure, can address the relationship even if your MOS or military job wasn't high risk. Now, a good next letter might say something like, "Although the veteran's MOS is not typically associated with high vibration exposure, the veteran's documented deployment duties included regular travel and military tactical vehicles over rough terrain. This exposure is consistent with occupational whole body vibration and is at least as likely as not a contributing factor to the veteran's current lumbar degenerative disc disease." Here's the power. That opinion connects your specific experience to your current claimed condition, regardless of what your MOS or military job was.
Now, what about the CMP exam? Well, when you go to your CMP exam for a back or spine condition, you need to talk about vibration exposures. Here's the problem. Most veterans focus on one injury event, like, I hurt my back lifting something or I fell off a truck. And those events that they do matter, but don't forget the repetitive and cumulative damage over time. The CMP examiner needs to understand that your spine was being degraded over years by constant vibration. So when the examiner asks about your back, just mention in addition to that injury, I want to make sure you document my whole body exposure. as of 91 Bravo from this state to this date. I spent approximately these many hours in military vehicles including whatever the vehicles were. This was over how many years of service including how many deployments you were on. The cumulative vibration exposure contributed to my current spinal condition. So why it matters is you're putting it on the record. You're making sure the examiner considers vibration as a contributing factor, not just acute injuries. And here's a tip. If your personal statement already details your vibration exposure, just bring a copy to the exam so you can reference it and make sure that the CMP examiner hears it and possibly sees it.
So, let me hit some common mistakes I see with vibration exposure claims. So, mistake number one, only mentioning acute injuries. Yes, document the time you threw out your back, but also document years of repetitive and cumulative vibration exposure. Both do matter.
Mistake number two is being vague about exposure. I wrote in vehicles. That's not enough. You need to specify vehicle types, the frequency, the duration, the terrain conditions, and total years of exposure.
Mistake number three is assuming your MOS or military job speaks for itself. Even if your MOS or military job is obviously vehicle vehicle related, explain the exposure in your personal statement, don't leave it to the raider's imagination.
Now, mistake number four, not connecting vibration to your diagnosis. The VA needs to see the link. Your personal statement should explicitly say, "The vibration exposure from my military service caused or contributed to my current diagnosis."
Mistake number five, giving giving up if your MOS isn't considered high risk. Your actual experience matters more than your job title. Document what you actually did in service. Get buddy statements and consider getting a nexus letter if it's needed.
Now, if your back is destroyed and you think vibration exposure did play a role in it, that is exactly what I do and we do every day at Extera Health. We write Nexus letters explaining the connection between the whole body vibration and your current spinal conditions. Even if your MOS or military job wasn't considered high- risk, we also offer claims roadmap service where we identify every condition you should be filing based on your actual military experience. We also offer CMP exam preps where we'll teach you how to communicate your vibration exposure so the examiner documents it correctly. If you're interested, we will look at your situation, give you honest guidance, and give you recommendations. If you're interested in any of these services, the links are in the description below.
Okay. Now, look, the military, they put you in vehicles that were designed to survive explosions, not necessarily protect your spine. You bounced around in Humvees on roads that weren't really roads. You flew in helicopters that shook so hard you couldn't read the map. You rode in takes that transmitted every bump and pothole directly into your vertebrae. And it added up over time. Year after year, deployment after deployment, training cycle after training cycle, your spine was taking damage you couldn't see or feel at the time until years later when uncomfortable became debilitating. That's not aging. That is occupational injury and you deserve compensation for it. So document your exposure, explain your MOS or your military job and your actual duties. Connect the vibration to your current claimed condition. Listen, the military shook your spine apart. Now, make sure the VA knows about it.
Now, remember, vibration is just one way your military job affected your body. Your MOS or military job is actually worth potentially thousands of dollars in disability benefits. There are documents that link specific military jobs to specific exposures. And if your job is on any of those lists, the VA has to or should be conceding your exposure. So, watch my complete breakdown of how your military job affects your VA claim.
Now, listen. I am Dr. Marshall Bar, an Army Ranger, a special operations combat medic, an actual doctor, and a former CMP examiner. Your back didn't just go bad. The military shook it apart. I will see you in the next video and until next time, stay mission.