Christensen v. State Accident Insurance Fund

Claimant appeals from an order of the circuit court, affirming both the hearings referee and the Workmen’s Compensation Board, denying compensation for an alleged aggravation. The issue in the case is the difficult one of ascribing causation for a lumbar spine problem leading to a fusion.

Claimant had a congenital anomaly of the lumbar spine described as a "transitional vertebra.” He had no symptoms attributable to the anomaly at the time of his first compensable injury, which occurred when he injured his back lifting some metal trays in 1966. Claimant was treated intermittently for mechanical…