Claim petition alleging lower back injury denied.

We obtained a favorable decision denying a claim petition that alleged a low back injury, including sprain/strains and intervertebral disc displacement status, after multiple surgeries. The claimant had a lumbar laminectomy in 2016 and a lumbar fusion in 2018. He alleged a work injury in April 2019 when emptying a small trash can into a dumpster. During the course of the litigation, however, the claimant and his doctor offered testimony that the claimant’s back problems, including the 2016 and 2018 surgeries, were related to his general employment duties with the employer and that the April 2019 incident was the “straw that broke the camel’s back.” We presented expert medical testimony from an orthopedic surgeon that the claimant’s back problems were degenerative in nature and were not caused or aggravated by his work activities or the alleged April 2019 incident. The judge denied the claim petition outright and found that the claimant had failed to sustain his burden of proving any work-related injury.