Snow Shoveling…What is it good for?
The activity of having to shovel snow in Alberta is pretty much unavoidable. But have you ever looked at how to do it correctly and not be a statistic?
In this article we look at some of the ways to prevent an injury that can be caused by shoveling like a rookie.
Ever rolled out of bed, thrown a winter jacket over your pajamas and headed out straight away to shovel? We all have, and that’s the first mistake. Shoveling is an intense aerobic exercise, when you step outside in the cold, right away your blood vessels constrict and then when you start shoveling the blood has to travel around the body through these constricted vessels, which is not the best combination. Just like any exercise we should do a quick dynamic warm up for this. Ideally if you can be up for 45 minutes rather than rolling out of bed and into the cold then this would be great. But if this is not an option then doing knee grabs – standing and pulling your knee to your chest, completing 12-15 reps on each side, 12-15 squats and large arm circles back and forth would be a great way to get the heart rate up and target blood to the correct areas of the body.
The Biomechanics of shoveling
When you’re shoveling keep your feet shoulder width apart, try to engage your legs not your back. The leg muscles and glutes are a much stronger group than the back, how do you engage them over your back? Simply create a slight bend at the hips and knees before you lift up the load. This will take a lot of the load off of the low back and therefore help prevent injury. Then make sure you turn the whole body to dump the snow. Twisting just at the back to dump the load is an injury waiting to happen. Try not to let this happen to you!
When you do dump the snow keep your grip as wide as you can on the shovel. This will give you much more control over the heavy load. And definitely keep the end of the shovel below your hips as you turn. None of this throwing the snow over your shoulder behind you! Firstly it could end up down your back which would be a nasty shock! But secondly the further the load is away from your center of gravity, the greater the strain will be on the body.
And lastly always remind yourself to keep your core engaged! Brace your midsection as you do this, as it will take a lot of pressure of the back.
Hopefully you found some new ideas to take from this and prevent you having to be put out of commission due to a shoveling injury!