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Wal-Mart Stores11/30/2005
NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION
Appellants Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., and Claims Management, Inc., appeal the decision of the Workers' Compensation Commission-adopting the decision of the Administrative Law Judge-that found appellee Mary Ann Phillips had proved by a preponderance of the evidence that she had sustained a compensable injury and concluded that Phillips was entitled to medical expenses and temporary total disability benefits. We find no error in the Commission's decision and affirm.
Mary Ann Phillips-a sixteen-year employee of Wal-Mart-worked in shipping and receiving at the store in Forrest City, Arkansas. At the hearing before the ALJ, she testified that on Friday, August 1, 2003, she and a co-worker, Judy Farrell, were unloading shipments. Farrell had left, and Phillips continued to work alone. She stated that while she was unloading large boxes, she "felt pain in neck and back." She stated that she had never felt anything like it before. Although Phillips gave inconsistent testimony with regard to the exact hour the incident occurred on August 1, she repeatedly declared that the pain began when she was unloading the boxes. No one was present at the time Phillips was injured.
Phillips admitted that she had been involved in an automobile accident in 1993 and sustained mild whiplash, but she stated that after the 1993 accident she saw her general practitioner, who released her to work within a couple of days after the incident. She also had one appointment with a chiropractor after the accident to deal with headaches she suffered from the whiplash. She asserted that she did not have any problems with her neck or back from 1993 until the time of her accident in August 2003.
Phillips testified that she told several co-workers on August 1 that she had hurt herself unloading boxes and that she was in pain. She testified that she continued to work that Friday because she thought that it was just a pull and that it would get better over the weekend. She stated that when she came back to work on Monday, it was still "bothering" her and worsened throughout the day. On Tuesday morning she reported the incident to her personnel manager, Jeanette Jenkins. Although Phillips stated that she continued to have pain and asked to see a doctor, she also testified that she did not want to be a "complainer" so she continued working despite the pain.
Phillips saw Dr. James Meredith on August 8 and August 11, and he took x-rays of her neck and back. Dr. Meredith noted that Phillips had tenderness in her paraspinus muscles and that the x-rays showed straightening of the normal curves in the cervical and lumbar regions, which Dr. Meredith pointed out would be indicative of spasms in those areas. He specifically noted that "there was objective evidence of spasm." He prescribed Phillips a muscle relaxer and released her.
Phillips testified that she continued to hurt after her appointment with Dr. Meredith, so she asked personnel to make her a follow-up appointment with the doctor. She was told by her employer that workers' compensation would not pay for any follow-up doctor visits. Phillips stated that she continued to deal with the pain and eventually paid to see another doctor, Dr. Beata Majewski, a rheumatologist. Dr. Majewski conducted an MRI of Phillips and referred her to Dr. Robert Abraham, a neurologist, who performed neck surgery on Phillips on May 26, 2004. Phillips returned to work on July 19, 2004, following her surgery. She testified that she was never paid workers' compensation by Wal-Mart for the time she had to take off following the surgery.
Two of Phillips's co-workers, Judy Farrell and Murline Byers, testified on Philli
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