Snow-shovelling 101

Some tips to keep your back safe and avoid injury while snow-shovelling!

KNOW YOUR LIMITS:   Listen to your body.  If you feel fatigued, stop, go indoors and rest for a while.  If you experience pain, shortness or breath, light-headedness, or chest discomfort of any kind, stop immediately and seek assistance.

WARM UP:   Warm-up your body as you would before any exercise. Jog in place and stretch your arms, back, shoulders and legs before going out. Cold, tight muscles are more likely to get injured than warm, relaxed muscles.  Stretch again after shoveling.

DRESS APPROPRIATELY:  Wear good flat boots with traction.  Wear layers.  Wear gloves and a hat to keep you dry.

STAY HYDRATED AND TAKE FREQUENT REST BREAKS:   Every 15 minutes or so, take a rest break so you can stay strong and refreshed.  Stand up straight, walk around, and drink some water.  Be sure to drink plenty of water before, during, and after shovelling.  An hour of shoveling is comparable to an hour of general aerobics, dancing or weight lifting.

DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH:   Breathe regularly to supply your body with more oxygen as your muscles work to shovel the snow.  Inhale as you prepare to lift/push, and Exhale during the lift/push.

AVOID LIFTING:   Push the snow whenever possible.  Pushing puts much less stress on your body than lifting.  Push with the handle of the shovel close to you for better leverage – do not outstretch your arms.  Push the snow to the closest edge of the driveway.

WHEN YOU MUST LIFT, MAINTAIN A NEUTRAL SPINE:   Realistically, sometimes you will have to lift.   When lifting, keep your knees bent, with your feet shoulder-width apart or one in front of the other.  You should be in a squatting stance, as if rising up from a chair.  Your hands should be more than shoulder-width apart to increase your leverage and shovel more efficiently.  Lift the shovel by straightening your knees (not your back!).  Your back should be in a neutral position, not rounded.

AVOID TWISTING:   Lifting straight-ahead is easier on your body.  Never throw snow over your shoulder.  Move your feet rather than twisting.  When you are in a situation where you must throw the snow and rotate, rotate your whole body.  Allow your hips to move with your shoulders so that you require less spinal rotation.  Similarly to golf, keep your knees bent, with your front-foot firmly planted, and pivot on your back-foot as you turn your trunk to the opposite side.

SMALL LOADS:   If there’s a heavy snowfall, you don’t have to dig all the way to the sidewalk with each shovel.  Allow yourself to push/lift the snow in layers.  Don’t pick up too heavy a pile of snow.

DELEGATE THE SHOVELLING DUTIES IF NEEDED:   If you have a cardiac history, or significant history of low back pain or shoulder or knee injuries, you should delegate the shoveling.

Shovelling is difficult work.  If by chance you do end up injuring yourself, consult a medical professional to minimize your pain and functional limitations.

Joyce Wong (PT)

B.Sc.(PT), Cert. AFCI

Registered Physiotherapist

 Is it possible there is a single nutrient that can be incorporated into your daily life that forces you to get some sunshine, prevent various forms of cancer, strengthen your bones, improve your immune system to fight infections and have an effect on autoimmune disorders?  Vitamin D is purported to do all that, and more.

What is Vitamin D?

Much press has been given to Vitamin D over the past couple of years as research continues to demonstrate its enormous health benefits.   Vitamin D acts more like a hormone than a Vitamin.  It binds Vitamin D receptors throughout the body and exerts its potent effects on cells that have these receptors.  The main source of Vitamin D is from the sun, as the ultraviolet light aids our bodies in manufacturing this essential nutrient.  Food sources of Vitamin D include various mushrooms, fish and sunflower seeds.

How much Vitamin D do I need? 

During the summer months 20 minutes of sunshine on our skin produces enough Vitamin D to keep us healthy.  After thanksgiving and before the May long weekend, the sun is not strong enough to cause our bodies to produce adequate levels of Vitamin D to promote health.  Therefore supplementation may be a good idea. It is estimated that only 1/3 of Canadians have adequate levels to promote health, and 10% (roughly three million people) have concentrations considered inadequate.

Too much of a good thing?  Although it is difficult to overdose on Vitamin D, it is possible and complications can occur such as hypertension and systemic calcification, as Vitamin D aids in the absorption of calcium.

In summary, Vitamin D is an amazing and necessary nutrient to achieve optimal health and prevent a number of chronic diseases, but as with everything one needs to be conscious of the amount they intake.

Dr. Ian Cole, N.D.

Naturopathic Doctor

 Although it is to your benefit to obtain continuous care with one therapists, as they become familiar with you, your condition, and the way you are responding to treatment IF for any reason you wish to transfer to a different therapist we will accommodate your request…. THERE ARE NO EGO’s between therapists.  Your existing therapist will discuss your treatment plan with the therapists you are transferring to in order that you can receive the best care possible

            Why is it that we will seek treatment from a doctor when sick, take our car to the mechanic, visit the salon to have our hair done, and seek the advice of a financial consultant, yet when we want to get in shape we often take it upon ourselves.  Many fitness enthusiasts (and want-to-be’s) have gotten into worse shape than better as a result of improper exercise, causing muscle imbalances, over-training and injuries.  Although our bodies can take a lot of abuse, the cumulative effect of poor training can have a lasting impact.  Then there’s those who spend week after week, and month after month exercising only to look of feel the same year in, year out.  Exercise is supposed to be stress relieving, not an exercise in futility and frustration.

The current rise in popularity of personal training is mainly attributed to four factors: 

1. Reputable fitness facilities are no demanding all trainers be certified.  This requires meeting specific standards of performance for safe and effective services. 
2. A growing awareness of the benefits of specialized personal instruction for all ages and abilities. 
3. A growing demographic (health-conscious baby boomers) in need of what personal training offers. 
4. A greater emphasis on prevention resulting in a shift of focus from health-care to self-care.

Exercise, like medicine, needs to be prescribed at just the right dose.  Many people will at least have a fitness professional design and demonstrate a program for them.  This is an essential first step.  However, stopping here is like a doctor prescribing medication and then leaving the guesswork of adjusting the dosage for you.  In addition to having an optimal dose for each individual, the specific manner in which this dose needs to be adjusted caries from workout to workout.  Even when exercises are performed perfectly and consistently every week, progress is not guaranteed without proper adjustment of the dose.

Like many aspects of life it is the process applied with training, not just the program of exercises itself that is largely responsible for results.  A few follow-up sessions after the initial introduction will help establish this effective training process.  A personal trainer will work with you one to three times per week, depending on your needs, optimizing your technique and making continuous program adjustments.  Once you are in the “groove” of the training process you can see results every workout, and every two weeks there should be measurable changes in your body.  If you’re not experiencing this now, then it’s time to assess what you’re doing and make change.

A personal trainer is like your coach.  By combining specialized knowledge with their experiences of working with many different “athletes” they have acquired wisdom for an in-depth understanding of what works when, and for whom.  They can forecast the pitfalls before they happen, and what would otherwise be guesswork for you, becomes a systematic, result-producing plan of action.  In other ways, a personal trainer is also like your music teacher where your body is the instrument.  In fact, your body is the only instrument you have to carry out your purpose in life.  Your CPTN certified trainer will show you how to take proper care of it for peak performance!

Heather Denstedt

B.A. , CEP, CPTN-CPT, CTT, FMS

Mat PILATES Instructor