More Medical Information Needed on Cause of Worker’s Back Injury

A worker was putting on work boots in the workplace when he felt a sudden, extreme pain in his back. His workers’ comp claim for a back injury was approved, but the employer challenged it. The Appeals Commission noted that the worker was hurt in the workplace while getting ready to start his shift. It’s unlikely that the usual task of pulling on his boots caused the back injury. It’s more likely that the days of heavy job duties before this innocuous incident were the primary cause or a contributing factor to the subsequent back injury the worker suffered. So the Commission requested additional medical information and investigation of the cause of the worker’s injury [2015-0909 (Re), [2015] CanLII 76293 (AB WCAC), Nov. 20, 2015].