Claimant is a 54 year old, right-handed man who is six feet tall and weighs 275 pounds. Other than a single pill for stress, he takes no medications, and he does not have diabetes, a history of wrist fractures, or other medical conditions. Currently, he is employed by RK Stratmann, performing silk screening for the Harley Davidson Company. He started as a temporary worker in 2012, then he was hired full time.
Claimant has a varied vocational history. Throughout the 1990's, Claimant worked for D\&H Trucking, loading and driving delivery trucks. He last worked for D\&H on December 16, 1998 - he was fired due to his driving record. For about a year thereafter, Claimant worked for OK Vacuum, in the warehouse and making deliveries. From August 2000 to May 2007, Claimant worked 40 to 60 hours per week for Employer as an "Assembly Tech," performing a variety of tasks described below. For a few months in 2005, Claimant also worked a second, part-time job for Dairy Queen as a cook. Between May 2007 and 2012, when he started at RK Stratmann, Claimant worked consecutively for at least four different employers performing pick and pack duties in a warehouse, cleaning banks and healthcare facilities, and providing security services.
Claimant provided very detailed testimony describing his various tasks for Employer. Employer produced door panels for Chrysler pickup trucks and headliners for Chrysler vans. As an Assembly Tech, Claimant rotated through three different jobs: the Door Department, the Headliner Department, and Machine Operator. In every job, he used both hands.
In the Door Department, Claimant performed various tasks in preparing a door panel. One task required him to take interior pieces of the door panel and pop them into a centerpiece. He would strike the piece with his hand to pop it into place. Popping in the panel typically took two hits since there were two clips. After placing the pieces, he put the panel into a machine for spot welding and cupping, flipped it to another machine, and removed it to a rack when the process was complete. He processed 250 to 300 panels per shift. Employer eventually provided the Assembly Techs with a pipe topped with a rubber ball to strike the parts, thus eliminating the activity of hitting the panels by hand.
At the Headliner Department, Assembly Techs put coat hooks, lights, visors, and air ducts into a headliner of a cargo van. Working with another Tech, Claimant processed 240 to 320 headliners per day. The first step in the Headliner process was to carry the headliner from a rack to a worktable with a coworker. There, visors were installed, which required Claimant to twist and pop the part into place and secure it with two screws. Claimant also slid and popped the lights and covers into place. As a hydraulic hoist raised the headliner so it could be transferred to the next station, Claimant prepared new parts for the next headliner. At the second worktable, Claimant glued wire harnesses by squeezing a triggered glue gun for up to 20 seconds. Claimant also used hand-held clippers to trim wires. When the headliner reached the third worktable, Claimant checked to make sure all of the lights were working. Claimant would also install coat hooks at this worktable, which required wiggling them into place and screwing them in with one screw. Claimant then placed the completed headliners in a rack to be shipped to Chrysler.
Finally, Claimant worked as a Machine Operator. He loaded plastic parts, like arm rests, onto a conveyor belt, applied glue, and ran the parts through two different machines. Once they were processed, he removed the parts, checked for defects and scraps, and sent the parts down the line. When the parts required application of vinyl, Claimant loaded two or three rolls of vinyl into the machine per day. This required him to roll the vinyl bolts over to the machine and put a pipe through the center to hoist the vinyl rolls up. He processed hundreds of parts per shift.
Claimant testified candidly that his hand and wrist problems started when he was working for D\&H Trucking in the late 1990's. He acknowledged the records show several doctor visits for hand complaints before he started working for Employer, and he thought Dr. Schlafly and Dr. Sudekum sounded like familiar names. He saw no doctors during the year he worked for OK Vacuum because his hands were better than when he worked at D\&H. Claimant hired attorney Nancy Mogab, who filed a workers' compensation claim on September 1, 2000 against D\&H ("Injury No. 98-178197"). Ms. Mogab also sent him to a doctor to be evaluated with regards to his hands and wrists. However, Claimant did not receive any treatment related to the claim filed against D\&H. He dismissed Injury No. 98-178197 as of August 25, 2003 without receiving any benefits.
Claimant's hands were not symptom free when he started working for Employer in 2000, but they were better than they had been at $\mathrm{D} \& \mathrm{H}$. However, after working several years for Employer, Claimant's hands started hurting and going numb. Although Claimant could not remember the year, he testified credibly he reported the symptoms to Demarco Howard, his supervisor in the Headliner Department. The medical records suggest Claimant's report was in the spring of 2005, since he was sent to Dr. Byler on May 12, 2005. I find Employer authorized and directed care with Dr. Byler because she communicated with and sought author