John Chiang State Controller; State Compensation Insurance Fund Maria Flores Candelario WORKERS’ COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARDSTATE OF CALIFORNIAMARIA FLORES CANDELARIO, Applicant,vs.JOHN CHIANG STATE CONTROLLER; STATE COMPENSATION INSURANCE FUND, Defendants.Case No. ADJ6899677OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING RECONSIDERATION AND DECISION AFTER RECONSIDERATION Defendant seeks reconsideration of the Findings and Award of July 21, 2011, in which the workers’ compensation judge (WCJ) found, in relevant part, that during the period August 1, 2008 through August 7, 2009, applicant sustained industrial injury to her neck, back, knees and sleep disturbance, causing permanent disability of 61%. Defendant contends that the WCJ erred in determining permanent disability based on the medical opinion of Dr. Rahimian, applicant’s treating chiropractor, because the doctor did not explain why he rated applicant’s cervical impairment within DRE Category II of the AMA Guides. It appears that applicant did not file an answer. The WCJ submitted a Report and Recommendation. We adopt and incorporate the “Facts” (Section II) of the WCJ’s Report. We do not adopt or incorporate the remainder of the Report. On page 13 of his April 26, 2010 report (Exhibit 1), Dr. Rahimian stated that “the DRE method is utilized for the cervical spine placing [applicant] in Category II using Table 15-5, she has an 8% impairment rating.” However, Dr. Rahimian failed to explain how he arrived at this conclusion. For instance, the doctor did not connect the results of his cervical spine examination (p. 4, 4/26/10 report) and his MRI/diagnostic studies (p. 7, 4/26/10 report) to any Category II indications, such as history and examination findings which are compatible with a specific injury, muscle guarding or spasm, asymmetric loss of range of motion or nonverifiable radicular complaints, clinically significant radiculopathy and , imaging study demonstrating a herni
