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✦ 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 are the most common and most heavily contested workers' comp claims in Tehachapi. The two dominant industries in this mountain community — wind energy and corrections — both produce back injuries at alarming rates, but through very different mechanisms. Wind turbine technicians along the Tehachapi Pass climb hundreds of ladder rungs daily, carry heavy tools and equipment to nacelles 300 feet above the ground, and work in awkward positions inside turbine housings for hours. The cumulative load on the lumbar and cervical spine is enormous. Meanwhile, correctional officers at California Correctional Institution (CCI) sustain acute back injuries from inmate assaults — being tackled, thrown against walls, or slammed to concrete floors during cell extractions.
Insurance companies fight Tehachapi back injury claims harder than almost any other body part because back injuries produce high permanent disability ratings under the AMA Guides, 5th Edition, and carry substantial future medical exposure — spinal fusions, epidural injections, long-term pain management, and potential revision surgeries. The insurer's primary weapon is apportionment under LC section 4663, which allows them to argue that a percentage of your disability is attributable to pre-existing degeneration, aging, or prior injuries rather than the current work incident.
Attorney Eman Yazdchi's firm fights apportionment with targeted medical evidence, occupational analysis, and expert testimony. A 35-year-old turbine technician who climbed towers for ten years did not develop a herniated disc from aging — they developed it from the cumulative trauma of thousands of climbs. A CCI officer who was body-slammed by an inmate did not rupture a disc from pre-existing degeneration. We prove causation at the Bakersfield WCAB with evidence that connects the injury to the work, not to the worker's age.
The value of a Tehachapi back injury claim is determined by the permanent disability rating under LC section 4660, which uses the AMA Guides, 5th Edition. Understanding how these ratings work — and how insurers manipulate them — is essential.
The AMA Guides rate spinal impairment using the Diagnosis-Related Estimates (DRE) method or the Range of Motion (ROM) method. For most Tehachapi back injuries, the DRE method applies. A single-level lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy typically rates at DRE Category III (10-13% whole person impairment). A two-level fusion rates higher, often reaching DRE Category IV (20-23%). These whole-person impairment percentages are then adjusted for age, occupation, and diminished future earning capacity to produce a final permanent disability rating that determines your settlement value.
Many wind turbine technicians in the Tehachapi Pass develop back injuries not from a single fall but from cumulative trauma — years of climbing hundreds of ladder rungs daily, hauling 40-pound tool bags to nacelle level, and working in confined spaces with forced postures. Cumulative trauma claims under LC section 5412 are fully compensable, but the insurer will argue that your MRI findings are age-related degeneration rather than occupational wear. We counter with biomechanical analysis of the climbing loads specific to the turbine models at Tehachapi (Vestas, Goldwind, GE), occupational exposure records, and medical expert opinions that attribute the spinal pathology to the repetitive occupational forces rather than natural aging.
Correctional officers at CCI sustain acute back injuries from specific violent incidents — an inmate tackles the officer, slams them against a wall, or throws them to the ground during a cell extraction or yard altercation. These are specific-date-of-injury claims with clear causation. The insurer's apportionment argument is weaker here because the mechanism of injury is a discrete traumatic event. However, the State Compensation Insurance Fund still frequently argues that prior incidents or degenerative conditions contributed to the current disability. We use incident reports, video evidence (when available), immediate medical records, and expert testimony to prove that the current injury is the predominant cause of the disability.
Apportionment is the insurer's most effective tool for reducing back injury settlements. Under LC section 4663, a physician must address the cause of your permanent disability and apportion it between industrial (work-related) and non-industrial (pre-existing, aging) causes. If the QME assigns 40% apportionment to pre-existing degeneration, your settlement drops by 40%. We fight unfair apportionment by obtaining competing medical opinions, challenging the factual basis of the apportionment finding, and arguing at the Bakersfield WCAB that the work injury — whether cumulative turbine climbing or an acute CCI assault — is the predominant cause of the current disability level.
Injured at work in Tehachapi? Call (661) 273-1780
Tap to call →Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley Hospital provides initial evaluation and imaging for back injuries. Spinal specialists, orthopedic surgeons, and neurosurgeons are located in Bakersfield (45 min via Highway 58) and Lancaster (50 min). Workers' comp covers all authorized specialist treatment and mileage reimbursement for travel.
If the insurer's doctor assigns apportionment to pre-existing degeneration or aging, we obtain competing QME or AME reports that attribute the disability to industrial causation. Biomechanical analysis of turbine-climbing loads and CCI assault mechanics strengthens the argument that the work injury — not aging — caused the current condition.
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