Stay Safe During Winter Activities

Winter recreational activities and chores can pose problems for the outdoor enthusiast whose body is not conditioned. Winter sports like skating, skiing and sledding can cause painful muscle spasms, strains or tears if your body hasn’t been properly warmed up. Even shoveling snow the wrong way, slipping on sidewalks and wearing the wrong kinds of clothing can lead to spasms, strains and sprains.

Simply walking outside in the freezing weather without layers of warm
clothing can intensify older joint problems and cause pain. As muscles
and blood vessels contract to conserve the body’s heat, the blood supply
to extremities is reduced. This lowers the functional capacity of many
muscles, particularly among the physically unfit.  Preparation for an
outdoor winter activity, including conditioning the areas of the body
that are most vulnerable, can help you avoid injury and costly health
care bills.

Warm Up

Simply put, warming up is essential. When pressed for time, it’s
better to shorten the length of your workout and maintain a good warm-up
than to skip it and dive right into the workout. You can complete a
good warm-up in 15-20 minutes, and it will make your workout more
pleasant and safe.

• Skiing: Do 10 to 15 squats. Stand with your legs
  shoulder width apart and your knees aligned over your feet. Slowly lower
  your buttocks as you bend your knees over your feet. Stand up straight
  again. It’s a good idea to wear layers because you may be going from a
  cold environment (outdoors) to a warm environment (indoors).
• Skating: Do several lunges. Take
  a moderately advanced step with one foot. Let your back knee come down
  to the floor while keeping your shoulders in position over your hips.
  Repeat the process with your other foot.
• Sledding/tobogganing: Do
  knee-to-chest stretches to fight compression injuries caused by
  repetitive bouncing over the snow. While either sitting or lying on your
  back, pull your knees to your chest and hold for up to 30 seconds.

Don’t forget cool-down stretching for all of these sports. At the
bottom of the sledding hill, for instance, before trudging back up, do
some more knees-to-chest stretches or repetitive squatting movements to
restore flexibility.

Shoveling Snow

Shoveling snow can also wreak havoc on the musculoskeletal system.
ACA suggests the following tips for exercise of the snow shoveling
variety:

• If you must shovel snow, be careful. Listen to weather forecasts so you can rise early and have time to shovel before work.
• Layer clothing to keep your muscles warm and flexible. Shoveling
  can strain “deconditioned” muscles between your shoulders, in your upper
  back, lower back, buttocks and legs, so do some warm-up stretching
  before you grab that shovel.
• When you do shovel, push the snow straight ahead. Walk it to the
  snow bank; don’t try to throw it. Avoid sudden twisting and turning
  motions.
• Bend your knees to lift when shoveling. Let the muscles of your legs and arms do the work, not your back.
• Take frequent rest breaks to take the strain off your muscles. A fatigued body asks for injury.
• Stop if you experience chest pain, get really tired or shortness of breath. You may need emergency assistance.

Reprinted with permission from the American Chiropractic Association www.acatoday.org