ROTC, just submitted the DMACS medical history. He has documented mild scoliosis of 15% so he noted this under the spine curvature question. This triggered a pain questionnaire for him to complete. On this, it asked how often and for how long does he have pain. There was no option to select no pain so he just selected the least amount answer which I believe was two times per year or less. Same with the how long question….he chose a few minutes to hours and then made a note in the comment box. He stated he has no pain at all and no issues. We didn’t even know he had scoliosis so no treatment was done as the dr said it was mild. Was this the correct way to answer?
Scoliosis and DMACS pain questionairre
- Thread starter Proudmom4
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2008
- Messages
- 27,679
First, welcome new member of about an hour!
DoDMERB uses the military medical accession standard linked below to determine if a candidate meets/does not meet the standard (Q/DQ). Start reading on Page 33. There is a specific percentage that is noted.
The candidate answered as best he could.
Is your main document still open? Anywhere you could add comments relating to no pain, asymptomatic, no treatment, etc., linked to the triggering questionnaire number?
Good that you are working this part of the application as a team, thoughtfully and intentionally.
Work the process. See what happens. Respond promptly to any requests for AMI, additional medical information.
Last edited:
See it now for some reason. Thank you.
It is still open! Great advice. Thank you. This forum has been so helpful. I hope I can help others as well once we are on the otherside.
Is it possible to attach letters in DoDMERB from his Doctor stating it is asymptomatic and no treatment needed or is it best to just state it and wait for them to ask for more information?
chaidrinker
Member
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2025
- Messages
- 66
Same.
We had letters from doctors on hand and ready to go, but did not upload them until after we received requests for those documents. We were basically ready to upload those letters immediately upon request.
Good to know. I have asked for the same thing. Thank you!
So as an update…I had my sons dr order new X-rays just to be proactive while we wait for his exam. The new ones say he doesn’t have scoliosis. The report says he has a mild 6 degrees normal asymmetry and notated that anything under 10 degrees is not a diagnosis of scoliosis. So strange that 3 years ago the report said he had a 15 degree curvature. Since his medical forms have have already been submitted on DMACS, we will have to wait until his appt and just bring this new xray report. Just know that when documenting scoliosis, it will automatically trigger a back pain questionnaire. We did note on there in the comment section that he has no pain etc as the questions don’t allow you to chose no pain as an answer.
What was the letter from the doctor stating? My son was diagnosed with scoliosis probably 4-5 years ago, but never had any pain. He was monitored by an orthopedic for several years through and had x-rays starting every 6 months and then yearly. He has been discharged for over a year now. Just curious if we should request a letter now prior to him getting to that point on his application.
chaidrinker
Member
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2025
- Messages
- 66
Dd had a 15-17 degree curvature that is well under the disqualifying:
In case you need it, information on spine/scoliosis reg's starts on mid-page 33 at this link:
- lumbar or thoracic scoliosis greater than 30 degrees, or thoracic kyphosisgreater than 50 degrees when measured by the Cobb Method.
In case you need it, information on spine/scoliosis reg's starts on mid-page 33 at this link:
Thank you. Did they ask for her x-rays? I will put a call into his doctor and request them.
chaidrinker
Member
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2025
- Messages
- 66
Actually, they did not end up requesting her old x-rays. I had them ready to go, but in the end, they requested a new set as part of the AMI's (stands for Additional Medical Information? something like that). I strongly suspect they will want new x-rays in your case too, they want to check for current progression.
For the new x-ray, we had the option of using their provider at no cost to us. Or we could have our own provider take the x-ray at our own cost.
We simply used their provider (since it was actually a lot faster to schedule through them vs our own), locations and availability will vary based on region though, just giving a heads up. In general, for dodmerb AMI's you will want to be able to respond in a timely manner to get those materials to the reviewing team.
*Edit to be clear--wait for dodmerb to request the new x-ray! It'll be a waste to do it now, there's no way to get ahead of this.
For the new x-ray, we had the option of using their provider at no cost to us. Or we could have our own provider take the x-ray at our own cost.
We simply used their provider (since it was actually a lot faster to schedule through them vs our own), locations and availability will vary based on region though, just giving a heads up. In general, for dodmerb AMI's you will want to be able to respond in a timely manner to get those materials to the reviewing team.
*Edit to be clear--wait for dodmerb to request the new x-ray! It'll be a waste to do it now, there's no way to get ahead of this.
Last edited: