Question:

Hi. I was having serious knee pain while I was active but couldn't think of any specific injury that may have caused it. While being seen, I was told I had runners knee and was given an MRI. They noticed I had an Osteochondroma. At the time it wasn't bothering me but I still asked if it could be removed. I understand why they didn't want to (not broke, don't fix it). My question is, if the VA has my knee pain at 10% and they attached my osteochondroma to that 2 years later, what effective date do they use for the osteochondroma? Does the date go back to the initial claim or a new one?

Jim's Reply:

Effective dates begin at the date a claim is made. If another claim is made that is secondary to the first claim, a new effective date for that claim would occur. The secondary claim would not date back to the effective date of the primary claim.