KEVIN LYSTER
v.
SNOOKY'S LOAN AND OWN STAR INS CO, Insurance Carrier GALLAGHER BASSETT SERVICES INC, Claim Administrator
Jurisdiction Claim No. VA00000220578
Virginia Workers Compensation
April 5, 2021
Date
of Injury: December 14, 2009.
Claim
Administrator File No. 011590016656WC01.
Kevin
Lyster Claimant, pro se.
Tenley
Carroll Seli, Esquire For the Defendants.
REVIEW
on the record by Commissioner Marshall, Commissioner Newman,
and Commissioner Rapaport at Richmond, Virginia.
OPINION
NEWMAN
Commissioner.
The
defendants request review of the Deputy Commissioner’s
November 18, 2020 Opinion finding the claimant’s
chiropractic treatment was causally related to his
compensable injury. We AFFIRM.
I.
Material Proceedings
The
claimant suffered a workplace accident on December 14, 2009
and is subject to a September 15, 2011 Medical Award
providing benefits for a cervical strain. Following his
accident, the claimant began receiving chiropractic treatment
from William Knizner, D.C., treatment for which the
defendants paid through May 23, 2017.
On
February 25, 2020, the claimant filed a claim seeking payment
for Dr. Knizner’s chiropractic adjustments from
mid-2017 through March of 2020 and requesting authorization
of future treatment.[1] The defendants argued there was no
causal connection between the claimant’s chiropractic
treatment and his compensable injury.
The
Deputy Commissioner noted that Dr. Knizner was the
claimant’s long-standing medical provider and had
provided “a reasonable explanation for the
claimant’s condition as it relates to the original
injury.” Because the claimant continued to suffer
“at least in part” from the original injury, the
Deputy found the defendants remained responsible for Dr.
Knizner’s treatment “for any condition that is
causally related to the compensable accident.” (Op. 7.)
The
defendants request review.[2]
II.
Findings of Fact and Rulings of Law
On
December 14, 2009, the claimant was moving a large tile saw
with his manager when the motor’s locking mechanism
shifted, forcing the claimant’s right side to support
the weight of the saw. The following day the claimant felt
stiff and sore, but as time passed his pain grew worse,
eventually limiting the range of motion in his neck and
preventing him from raising his arm above the shoulder. The
claimant testified that he treated with several medical
providers following the accident, and eventually came under
the care of Dr. Knizner, a chiropractor, whom he would see
when he “would tighten up” and “lose
mobility.” When this occurred, the claimant felt
tightness in his neck which radiated into the right shoulder.
Dr. Knizner performed manipulations to relieve the spasms and
strains. The claimant found the treatment more helpful than
medication, and he received adjustments approximately once
every two weeks.
The
claimant had previously sustained a neck injury in 1997 while
playing recreational football, as well as a second neck
injury in a June 4, 1997 motor vehicle accident. He received
chiropractic treatment after both injuries, but denied that
they caused him to feel pain on the right side of his...
