“Eman at Yazdchi Law was extremely professional, responsive, and supportive at all times. He and his staff exceeded all of my expectations.”
Andrea Dalessandro
✦ Board-Certified Specialist in Workers’ Compensation Law — State Bar of California ✦
Back injuries are the #1 workers’ comp claim in California — and among the most undervalued.
By Eman Yazdchi, Esq. · Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law
Back injuries account for more workers' compensation claims in Pasadena than any other category, and for good reason. Every major employment sector in this city — healthcare at Huntington Hospital, research at Caltech and JPL, technology, retail in Old Town, event operations at the Rose Bowl — generates back injuries through mechanisms ranging from single traumatic incidents to years of cumulative wear. Whether you herniated a disc lifting a patient, developed degenerative lumbar conditions from a decade of sitting at a research workstation, or injured your spine in a fall at a construction site, California law entitles you to medical treatment and disability benefits. The difficulty lies in obtaining the full measure of those benefits from an insurance company that is strategically designed to pay as little as possible.
Yazdchi Law P.C. is led by board-certified workers' compensation specialist Eman Yazdchi. Back injury claims are among the most vigorously contested in the workers' comp system, and they require an attorney who understands spinal pathology, imaging interpretation, surgical indications, and the apportionment arguments that insurers use to deflate every back injury claim they touch. Board certification confirms that level of knowledge.
Healthcare and patient care. Nurses, CNAs, physical therapists, and orderlies at Huntington Hospital and Pasadena's medical facilities develop back injuries from the most physically demanding work in the healthcare system — lifting, transferring, and repositioning patients. A single patient handling incident can cause a disc herniation, but more often the damage accumulates over years as the repeated biomechanical stress breaks down spinal structures. Lumbar disc herniations at L4-L5 and L5-S1 are the most common diagnoses, often accompanied by radiculopathy — nerve compression causing pain, numbness, and weakness radiating into the legs.
Research and laboratory work. This is a category of back injury that many attorneys overlook. Scientists and technicians at Caltech and JPL spend hours leaning over laboratory benches, reaching into fume hoods, or hunching at microscope stations. These sustained postural stresses create cumulative damage to cervical and lumbar discs. The injuries may seem inconsistent with "desk work" until you understand the specific ergonomic demands of laboratory environments — fixed-height workstations, inability to adjust seating during microscopy, prolonged cervical flexion during specimen examination.
Technology and office work. Pasadena's technology professionals sit for extended periods at workstations that are frequently not ergonomically optimized. The combination of prolonged sitting, inadequate lumbar support, and monitor positioning that forces the neck into forward flexion creates conditions ripe for disc degeneration and herniation. Insurers aggressively contest these claims because there is no single dramatic injury event.
Construction and manual labor. Workers on Pasadena's construction and renovation sites sustain acute back injuries from falls, heavy lifting, and struck-by incidents. Historic renovation work — which is prevalent in Pasadena's older neighborhoods and commercial districts — often requires working in cramped, awkward positions that amplify spinal stress.
If you have a back injury claim in Pasadena, you will almost certainly face an apportionment argument. Under LC sections 4663 and 4664, the insurance carrier can argue that a percentage of your permanent disability is caused by non-industrial factors — pre-existing degeneration, prior injuries, or genetics. The practical effect of apportionment is to reduce your disability rating and, consequently, your permanent disability award or settlement value.
Here is how it typically works: the insurer obtains an MRI of your spine, which shows disc desiccation, facet arthropathy, or other degenerative changes at multiple levels — not just the level of your herniation. The defense medical evaluator then opines that these degenerative changes represent pre-existing, non-industrial pathology and assigns 40, 50, or even 70 percent of your disability to "degeneration."
The problem with this argument is that degenerative disc findings on MRI are nearly universal in adults over 30. Numerous peer-reviewed studies have demonstrated that asymptomatic individuals routinely show disc degeneration on imaging. The presence of degenerative changes does not mean the current disabling condition is non-industrial — it means the worker has a normal spine that was made symptomatic by industrial activities.
Our firm works with spine specialists and occupational medicine physicians who understand this distinction and can articulate it persuasively in medical-legal reports. Challenging improper apportionment is one of the most impactful things we do for Pasadena back injury clients, because even a 10 percent reduction in apportionment can translate to thousands of dollars in additional permanent disability benefits.
An ICU nurse at Huntington Hospital with 15 years of patient care experience develops progressive lumbar pain that eventually results in a disc herniation requiring fusion surgery. The insurer accepts the claim but apportions 55 percent of the permanent disability to "degenerative findings" on imaging. We retain a spine surgeon who examines the pre-injury and post-injury imaging, notes that the degeneration is concentrated at the levels subjected to the greatest biomechanical stress from patient lifting, and reduces the apportionment to 15 percent. The permanent disability award nearly doubles.
A JPL engineer who has worked at a computer-intensive workstation for 20 years develops multi-level cervical disc herniations causing bilateral arm numbness and hand weakness. The insurer denies the cumulative trauma claim entirely, arguing that "sitting at a desk" cannot cause cervical disc disease. We produce an ergonomic evaluation of his specific workstation, which reveals a monitor positioned below eye level, no keyboard tray, and a chair without cervical support. An occupational medicine specialist explains the well-documented connection between sustained cervical flexion postures and disc pathology.
A line cook at a restaurant near South Lake Avenue lifts a heavy pot and feels a "pop" in his lower back. An MRI reveals a large disc herniation at L5-S1. The employer's MPN doctor prescribes conservative treatment only and refuses to authorize the MRI for three months, during which the worker's condition deteriorates. We request a change of treating physician, get the worker to a spine specialist within the employer's MPN, and secure authorization for the imaging and eventual surgery.
Under LC section 4600, you are entitled to all medical treatment reasonably required to cure or relieve your back injury. The Medical Treatment Utilization Schedule governs what treatment is authorized, but when the guidelines support your treating physician's recommendations, the insurer must comply. If treatment is denied through utilization review, you have the right to independent medical review — an external review by a physician not connected to the insurance carrier.
For back injuries requiring surgery, temporary disability benefits under LC section 4650 continue through the recovery period. California law caps temporary disability at 104 compensable weeks within a five-year period for most injuries, but severe injuries like those requiring spinal fusion may qualify for extended benefits up to 240 weeks.
Back injuries are the most financially significant claims in workers' compensation, and insurance carriers staff them accordingly. You need a board-certified specialist who can read an MRI report, challenge a flawed apportionment opinion, and present spinal pathology to a WCAB judge in terms that are clear and compelling. Eman Yazdchi provides that level of representation to every Pasadena client.
Injured at work in Pasadena? Call (661) 273-1780
Tap to call →A back injury can alter the course of your career and your life. Do not settle for less than you deserve. Contact Yazdchi Law P.C. for a free consultation to discuss your Pasadena back injury claim.
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