Tips On Protecting Your Back During The Winter
When snow, ice and frigid winds blast into town, watch out. Both winter recreational activities and chores can pose problems for the outdoor enthusiast whose body is not in condition. Winter sports like skating, skiing, and sledding can cause painful muscle strains or tears if you’re not in shape. Even shoveling snow the wrong way, clambering awkwardly over snow banks, slipping on sidewalks and wearing the wrong kinds of clothing can all pose the potential for strains and sprains.
Simply walking outside in the freezing weather without layers of warm clothing can intensify older joint problems and cause a great deal of 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.
What Can You Do To Protect Your Back?
The American Chiropractic Association and your local doctor of chiropractic offer the following tips to help you avoid the hazards of winter:
For the sports enthusiast:
To help condition your body, at-home stretching exercises come first. Focus on lower back muscles, hamstrings and calf muscles. Then, to take off the chill that settles in on the way to your rink, pond or hilltop, you should warm up just before you start a sport:
* Skiing — do 10 to 15 squats. Stand with your legs a shoulders’ width apart, knees aligned over your feet. Slowly lower your buttocks as you bend your knees over your feet. Stand up straight again.
* 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. 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.
For everyone…
* If you must shovel snow, be careful. Listen to weather forecasts so you can rise early and have time to shovel before work. Otherwise, you may be so pressed for time, you’ll be careless.
* Layer clothing to keep your muscles warm and flexible.
* Shoveling can strain “de-conditioned” 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, and don’t try to throw it. Walk it to the snow bank. Avoid sudden twisting and turning motions.
* Bend your knees to lift when shoveling. Let your legs and arms do the work, not your back.
* Take frequent rest breaks to take the strain off your muscles.
* Stop if you feel chest pain, or get really tired or short of breath. You may need immediate professional help.
If You Feel Pain…
After any of these activities, if you are sore, apply an ice bag to the affected area for 20 minutes, then take it off for a couple of hours. Repeat a couple of times each day over the next day or two. If the soreness doesn’t abate, you may need to see a chiropractor.