Shoveling Snow… Again!
Hey, from Burlington, I’m Dr. Jean-Marc Slak. It’s that time of year, we’re starting to shovel snow again, and that time of year we get hurt shoveling so I just wanted to do a quick tutorial on snow shoveling.
First of all, have a light shovel your most important tool here is a good shovel. Have something light, plastic at the end, light wood, even plastic tube or metal. The lighter the shovel, the lighter the load you’re moving, the better it’s going to be for you. Another tip is that you’re going to be shoveling on one side, and you’re going to be shoveling on the other side. Try to distribute the load on your back evenly, so you go one way, and then after a while, go the other way, so you’re not doing the same movement again and again and again.
One more thing that is extra important is, depending on how heavy the snow is, we’re going to have different sizes of shovelfuls. So when we have heavy wet snow, we’re going to have to lift relatively small amounts. I’m not digging all the way through, and I’m grabbing thin layers, so I’m not picking up a whole foot of this heavy snow at a time. I’m going a little slice at a time.
The other thing I did here, I used the big strong muscles in my body. I use my legs; I use my arms, I engaged my core before I did this. To dump the snow off the shovel should be an arm movement. Weak points in this are the elbows and back. You are going to have some soreness in this region of the back, that is almost normal, the mid-back, from doing this movement that we’re not accustomed to doing. It’s an upper back motion and workout. Shoveling should not exclusively be a low back motion. When it is a low back motion, be cautious of bending and twisting. Be careful. Don’t bend and twist at the same time. Do it in a separate motion, turn around.
In case it doesn’t work and help safeguard your back while shoveling, we’re here to help you, but hopefully, this tutorial’s going to help you avoid problems. Hey, we can’t wait to see you. Stay warm, stay safe, drive safe. This is Dr. Slak in Burlington. See you soon.
Take a look at this still ever-relevant post we did about winter!
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