How to prevent back pain when shovelling snow
Skiers and snow boarders are happy with the latest dump of snow but when I drove to work yesterday morning, it didn’t look like everyone had their happy shiny face on looking out at the 10-15 cm of new snow that arrived overnight.
When I was waiting at a light on 5th Avenue NW I looked over and saw a guy shovelling his walk and I immediately felt sorry for his lower back. If you were running a class on how NOT to shovel snow, this guy would have been the poster child. Straight legs, bent at the waist, lifting the full shovel up and then twisting to toss the snow away…You get the picture.
I was tempted to jump out of the car and do a snow shovelling intervention but the look on his face made me think he wasn’t that approachable. Instead, I thought I would provide a few tips and tricks that should go a long way to preventing a back injury when you are attempting to avoid the city bylaw guy’s fines for not clearing your walkway properly.
I seem to remember writing about this last year about this time (spot the trend?). As a chiropractor practising in Calgary, I see a lot of people that have hurt their back shovelling snow. Most of these injuries are preventable if you pay attention to a few simple things. This video shows some do’s and don’ts to prevent back pain and injury when performing this awesome task. Don’t forget that when faced with a whole driveway full of the wet stuff, ergonomics are important, but so is attitude…I find it helps if you hum a few christmas carols…whistle while you work as it were… 