Shoveling Snow The Safe Way

It’s that time of year when the white stuff starts falling and people come into my office with low back pain from shoveling snow.  There’s some easy ways you can avoid getting yourself all twisted up in a knot from clearing off the sidewalk or driveway, so here’s some quick tips to keep you out of my office, in both video and text below the video, depending on which you prefer.

Shoveling Snow Safety Tips

The main thing is to move in way your body is designed to.  Here’s what that means.  The joints of your lower back (called the facet joints) don’t look like a ball-and-socket like your shoulder.  They are flat and look sort of like two pancakes slapped up against each other (or maybe I just haven’t eaten breakfast yet).

Take a look at the picture to the left.  The yellow arrow points to a facet joint.  Notice it’s formed by two flat surfaces overlapping, one from above, one from below.  So, they glide past each other like the palms of two hands rubbing past each other.

What this all translates to is, this gliding motion creates a flexion/extention movement (bending over, bending back).  When you move, lift, or do anything else- including shoveling snow– so long as your lower back moves in this front to back plane, you’re fine.

Forget What That Song Says-Don’t Do The Twist

The problem arises when you try to twist at the lower back.  Then, those paddle-shaped joints smack into each other and start causing pain and inflammation.

Even worse is to do those movements with force… like flinging a shovel full of snow over your shoulder.  Now not only are you twisting those joints into each other, you’re doing so very forcefully  and with the momentum of a huge chunk of flying snow behind it.  Not a good idea.

The solution is to shovel and throw the snow directly forward.  That means you’ll be shoveling across the driveway or sidewalk, not along it.  By throwing the snow forward, you are essentially simply bending forward and backward, keeping those lower back joints gliding past each other properly.

Shovel To The Left, Shovel To The Right

Next, switch which hand is forward on the shovel from time to time.  Even if you throw snow forward, the natural stance of holding a shovel with one hand in front of the other will angle the body slightly and put more stress on one SI joint than the other.  What’s an SI joint?  These are the main weight bearing joints of the pelvis.  There’s two, right over the spot where you see two dimples over a fit person’s butt (very technical explanation, I know).

Anyway, if you’re always flinging snow with your left hand forward, you’ll stress one side of the pelvis more than the other because of the angle you’re standing at.  So spread the stress around evenly by switching back and forth frequently.  By the way, this is good advice for shoveling a lot of dirt, as well.

Minimize the amount of snow in each shovelfull, as well.  Wet snow can be surprisingly heavy, and since you’re trying to lift it at a distance from the center of gravity of your body, that makes the stress on your spine even greater.  Think of holding a bowling ball.  If I hold it straight against my chest, it’s easy to support (close to the center line).  If I hold it straight out at arm’s length (away from the center line), it becomes a real challenge to hold up.

Five pounds or so per shovelfull is plenty.  I know, I know, this makes for more time shoveling, but you’ll thank me when you can actually walk the next day.  On that note, if there’s a huge snowstorm on, you’re best off clearing off the driveway every few hours or so while the job is small rather than waiting until the snow is piled so high you can no longer see daylight.

Know Your Limitations

Finally, if you have a pre-existing health condition, don’t push it.  Snow shovelling is a surprisingly vigorous activity, and lots of people end up in the emergency room each year due to coronary events or other health problems brought on by people pushing themselves too hard.  In fact, the last time it snowed, EMS services ended up across the street from me, taking somebody away.  Take your time and take breaks if you have to.  It’s not a contest.

Okay, friends, a look outside tells me the snow is tapering off now, so I’m off to put my snow shovel where my mouth is!  Stay healthy!