A back strain connected with employment and resulting in incapacity is a compensable injury. Jarvis's Case, 274 Mass. 305. The strain need not result from unusual force or exertion.
Whether the injury arose out of the employment was a question of fact for the determination of the board. It could also be found that his employment exposed him to the risk of such injury. Caswell's Case, 305 Mass. 500. Souza's Case, 316 Mass. 332. A back injury causally connected with employment is a compensable injury under the act, Jarvis's Case, 274 Mass. 305, and it need not necessarily result from unusual force or exertion although, of course, it would be more difficult to prove the causal relation of the injury to the employment where the stress upon the back was neither unusual nor heavy. Brzozowski's Case, ante, 113. It has been held that a strain caused merely by stooping down or bending over in the course of his employment entitles the employee to compensation for the resulting incapacity.
The petitioner contends that there is an analogy between the instant case and those arising under the workmen's compensation act where death was caused by an injury to the heart resulting from overexertion or overwork. Brightman's Case, 220 Mass. 17. Fisher's Case, 220 Mass. 581. Madden's Case, 222 Mass. 487. Jarvis's Case, 274 Mass. 305. But these cases are plainly distinguishable.
The sole question for decision is whether the findings of the reviewing board above recited were warranted by the evidence. The evidence clearly warranted findings that the employee strained his back on January 2, 1937, while lifting a heavy barrel in the course of his employment ( McLaughlin's Case, 259 Mass. 25, Jarvis's Case, 274 Mass. 305, 308), and that from March 7, 1937, through May 29, 1937, he was totally disabled by reason of a right inguinal hernia. There was medical evidence, however, tending to show that this hernia was not caused by the strain.
See also Rousu v. Collins Co. 114 Conn. 24; Michna v. Collins Co. 116 Conn. 193. An injury may be found to have arisen out of and in the course of the employment, although it cannot be shown to have originated in any definite incident or at any definite time. Bean's Case, 227 Mass. 558. Mills's Case, 258 Mass. 475. Jarvis's Case, 274 Mass. 305. Slocombe's Case, 285 Mass. 31. The legal time of occurrence of such an injury has not been clearly adjudicated.