A Winter Ritual… That’s Surprisingly Deadly
Dear Natural Health Solutions Reader,
I write this poolside in balmy Tempe, Arizona, but — mindful of news reports on last weekend’s Snowzilla — I feel your pain, Northeasterners! I spent a good chunk of my life shoveling snow from a long driveway in Maine and know just how exhausting the chore can be.
In fact, this winter ritual is surprisingly dangerous.
A 2011 study found an astonishing 11,500 snow shoveling-related incidents treated in U.S. emergency rooms annually from 1990–2006. This included 1,647 deaths, or an average of 96 per year, mostly from heart attacks.
Shoveling triggers injury and death not just because it involves exertion. Rather, it involves a particularly challenging type of exertion that happens in a particularly difficult environment.
As explained by Jack Goodman, a professor kinesiology and physical education at the University of Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital in the magazine The Conversation, most people shovel snow with no warmup. They also use their arms almost exclusively — a situation virtually custom-designed to raise blood pressure. And unlike experienced bodybuilders, quotidian suburban snow-warriors are likely to hold their breath during the lifting phase, rather than exhaling. That spikes blood pressure more.
Making it even worse (I’m trying hard to avoid a “perfect storm” reference here, but my resistance is waning) is the fact that this work is done in bitter cold. Inhaling cold air constricts blood vessels, which — you guessed it — ramps up blood pressure further.
Result: The heart, beating faster due to unusual exertion, confronts a sudden requirement to pump blood through constricted vessels, leading to a perfect storm for increased coronary risk.
And even if the heart prevails, the rest of the body is at risk. In fact, the most frequent reason for emergency room visits related to snow shoveling is “soft tissue injury,” such as torn and wrenched back, arm, and/or leg muscles.
So here, from several expert authorities including the American Heart Association, are some tips on avoiding such hazards:
- If you don’t normally exercise, don’t begin by tackling your long, snow-blanketed driveway. Hire it out and plan an exercise regimen to prepare yourself for next year.
- Stay ahead of the storm. During heavy snowstorms, hit the driveway every couple of hours. This transforms what might have been one brutal session into a half-dozen easy ones.
- Push, don’t lift. This is the best advice of all. In Maine, virtually everyone, including me, used one these lovely snow scoops…
- … rather than a snow shovel. The scoop stays at ground level while the user pushes it. Then, with no lifting, one tilts the whole assembly to dump the scooped snow, as this gentleman demonstrates. This makes snow removal a gentle whole-body exercise rather than one stressing chiefly the arms and trunk.
- If you must use a shovel, bend your legs as much as possible to spare your back and arms.
- Don’t rush, and take frequent breaks. There’s no shame in pausing every five minutes to admire your progress and the winter landscape in general. The snow can wait.
Finally, if, like me, you are a gym rat who thrives on physical challenge, flip the advice above on its head. Take advantage of this unique workout opportunity by clearing not only your own walks and driveway, but those of neighbors as well — especially any who are elderly or otherwise should not do the work. You may quite literally save a life.
In Maine, such altruistic effort was common and remains one of my favorite memories about our life there.
But I must say — poolside in Tempe has its charms as well. In any case, take it slow and stay safe!
Sincerely,
Brad Lemley
Editor, Natural Health Solutions
Citations
- Watson DS, Shields BJ, Smith GA. Snow shovel-related injuries and medical emergencies treated in US EDs, 1990 to 2006. Am J Emerg Med. 2011