We’re officially in the midst of another winter season here in Rhode Island. I must admit, if there’s one thing that bothers me the most about the winter (besides the ice and lack of natural light), it’s the number of people who hurt themselves shoveling snow. I can’t tell you how many clients of mine have tweaked their backs in their zealous attempts to keep a clear driveway.

Today I am going to reveal my top safe shoveling secrets. For those of you who do not live in the Northeast or another cold weather climate like me, you still need to know this information too. Why? Because with the global epidemic that is climate change you really never know when snow is coming your way. It recently snowed in Las Vegas this past holiday season for the first time in his 25 years.

Here are my top five safe shoveling tips:

1.) Perform a Proper 5-Minute Warm-up Before Shoveling

This may sound silly but hear me out. Just as very few people properly warm-up before intense exercise, so do many people fail to get their bodies ready for the rigors of shoveling snow. Let’s face it, snow, especially when it’s wet, is a real beast to move around. And if your body is tight and cold then you will dramatically increase your chances of short or long-term injury.

I have created a great shoveling specific five-minute warm-up to get your body ready to rock. There is a special emphasis on opening up the hips and chest to save your back and shoulders, the two most commonly injured areas when shoveling:

Perform each exercise in the following warm-up circuit at a slow, controlled tempo for 50 seconds with a 10 second rest and transition between exercises. Do this warm-up indoors to better increase core temperature and total body blood flow:

Exercise#1- Stationary High Knee Run

Exercise#2- Jumping Claps (modified jumping jacks with arms moving across chest level, palms facing)

Exercise#3- Alternating Forward Lunge, Overhead Reach, and Twist

Exercise#4- Alternating Lateral Lunge with Opposite Hand to Toe Touch

Exercise#5- Prisoner Squats (hands behind head with finger interlocked)

2.) Split Your Stance When Shoveling

Back pain is the biggest complaint for snow covered drive way shoveling. In most cases, a sore or tight back stems from restriction at the hips (see the warm-up above to best remedy this). More specifically, using a parallel stance puts your lower back at a greater risk of injury due to the greater likelihood of excessive flexion of the lumbar spine that often leads to back spasms in the short run and herniated discs in the long run. A simple switch to shoveling is with a split stance, where one leg is forward and the other leg is back, will not only help prevent this hyper flexion while bending over and moving snow, but will also actively stretch and open up those tight hips at the same time. Be sure to keep things in balance by doing an even number of shovel strokes with both legs forward by alternating every 10 reps or so. This may seem hard to do at first but if you if you follow step 3 then this will be easier.

3.) Push Don’t Throw

Most newer shovels are designed for pushing the snow like a snow plow. So you should not have to do too much lifting of the snow and throwing…..this is where most people get hurt trying to lift and throw the snow especially when wet. Another great tip is to spray up your shovel with Pam or other cooking spray so the snow does not stick.  If you need to throw follow the next steps to maximize injury prevention.

The next 2 tips will will post tomorrow!

Till then