Mercante v. Industrial Com'n of Ariz.

OPINION

KLEINSCHMIDT, Judge.

The claimant has had intermittent low back problems that began thirty years ago when he was in the service. In 1979, while he was working as a truck driver for Georgia-Pacific, he bent over to unstrap cargo and felt something snap in his left buttock. He soon developed pain in both buttocks and in the low back which was diagnosed as lumbrosacral strain with underlying osteoarthritis. After a brief hospitalization and two weeks of conservative treatment, the claimant returned to regular work without difficulty.

In early 1980, however, the symptoms of the injury…