Based on a comprehensive review of the substantial and competent evidence, including Claimant's testimony, the expert medical opinions and depositions, and the medical records, as well as my personal observations of Claimant at hearing, I find:
1) Claimant was 55 -years-old at the time of the hearing. Her highest level of education was achieving a high school diploma from Riverview Gardens in 1969. She had no formal education or training after her high school graduation.
2) Claimant testified that after high school her first job was as a cashier for National Food Stores from 1969 - 1973. She left her job to become a homemaker after the birth of her second child. Claimant returned to work in 1985 for Sears in the ladies department, carrying clothes, stocking shelves, carrying boxes, and helping customers. She worked for Sears until 1990 when her neck was injured when a rack fell and hit her on her head. Her treatment consisted of physical therapy and cervical fusion surgery. After this injury she left her job because she could not do the lifting or reaching overhead.
3) Medical treatment records of Dr. Jonathan A. Gold (Exhibit H) indicate Claimant had a one level anterior cervical fusion at C5-6 on February 26, 1991. The records also document her initial evaluation when she was sent for work hardening after the cervical fusion surgery. Although this was the subject of a Workers' Compensation case, the prior settlement document and/or award was not submitted into evidence at this hearing.
4) After her treatment ended, Claimant was not working for a couple of years, until she was hired by Schnucks Markets. She was hired to work in the video department, but only stayed in that department for a few months. She was then transferred to the floral department where she worked from 1993 until her first work-related injury in 2001.
5) Regarding other injuries prior to the 2001 back injury, Claimant testified that she had a prior injury to her low back. Her only treatment consisted of a few hot and cold packs. She testified that she was able to continue to operate fairly well. She also described a prior right shoulder injury when she slipped and fell. She did not have surgery. Again, she testified she recovered fairly well. In the mid 1990s, she said she was diagnosed with bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, which she attributed to making ribbons and stripping roses. She did not file a Workers' Compensation claim. She was treated with injections and testified that she had problems gripping, and she noticed she was not as fast. She never had carpal tunnel releases until after the 2002 injury. She also had a prior right knee injury from 1996 that was not the subject of a Workers' Compensation Claim. She said she fell on it wrong and dislocated her kneecap. She testified she had arthroscopic surgery to put the kneecap back in place. She described continued complaints affected by changes in the weather. She said the knee would bend less and she worked slower on it. On cross-examination, Claimant admitted that she was working full duty without restrictions prior to the 2001 injury.
6) Certified medical records from St. Louis Labor Health Institute (Exhibit J) document treatment Claimant had for many various conditions and body parts from approximately 1972 to 1999. Included in those records are notes regarding a recommendation for a right knee arthroscopic surgery in 1994 to perform a capsular release to treat her patella that was tracking laterally. Although it appears she had the surgery, there is no surgical note contained in the file to know exactly what was done, nor are there any significant follow-up notes that explain her progress. There are also notes from 1996 diagnosing carpal tunnel syndrome, because of nocturnal numbness and complaints in both hands, as well as x-ray reports that document basilar joint arthritis of the left thumb. She was treated with injections and cock-up spli