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"A new poll from Canada points to snow shoveling as the
leading cause of back and neck pain during the winter months.
In the poll, 73 per cent of Ontario chiropractors surveyed say
improper shoveling technique tops the list of reasons for winter
back pain problems."
- Dr. Bob Braile, D.C. (January 2003)
"As people age, their circulation gets poorer, thus making
everything feel colder. So, they bundle up more. That's why
you see older folks wearing sweaters etc., when younger folks
are in T-shirts. Odd as this may sound, some people (old and
young) like to get the slush off of their driveways, sidewalks
et. al., to prevent it from freezing and raising the chance
of someone slipping and cracking their head on the pavement.
Also, there is a serious disadvantage older people find when
they do heavy snow shoveling - they frequently drop dead!"
- Author Unknown
February 17th, 2003
(President's Day)
There is nothing quite like
the experience of snow shoveling.
The brisk chill in the air to fill my lungs.
The cold sweat trickling down my back. The manly scent that
says I've been eating garlic and curry this week. The exhilaration
of it all. Mmmmm boy!!
And best of all the inevitable back pain and
exhaustion.
GOD! I HATE THIS!
I live in Freehold, New Jersey. In terms of location
this does not mean altogether much. Until it snows, that is.
That's when the divine powers that be target snow and rain storms
cross haired right over my house. I don't know what causes it.
Whenever New York City gets a bad snow storm, Freehold gets
it 20 times worse.
If a snowstorm comes from the north, nothing
really happens. If it comes from the south, we get clobbered.
And that's what happened today. Today is not
a typical French toast
emergency.* Today is a full blown BLIZZARD. We haven't seen
anything this bad since January of 1996. I don't think I'll
be shopping or taking the car anywhere. The snow is coming down
too hard. It is 2:PM and we now have 3 feet of snow on the ground.
The snow has not stopped yet and predictions
say it will go on until tomorrow morning. And of course with
the snow comes the shoveling.
Normally, I don't shovel. It is not something
I'm supposed to do. I pay $165 a month for my condo association
to take care of these things for me. This is opposed to the
$150 I had to pay last year for them to do this.
They will come eventually. They will be here
with gas powered snowblowers and moss covered three handled
family credenzas and clear the walk. Unfortunately, however,
it's after I have done my work on the walk. In the case of what
my association does, it's really Murphy's Law. If I do nothing,
they do nothing. If I do something, later on, they do something.
The last two dustings they've managed to ignore my walk and
do my neighbors'. This is something that will make a letter
to the very evil association manager.
She is a woman of sub par intelligence and poor
organizational skills. She is a woman who spends her time creating
ludicrous community rules (subject to a $25 fine per violation).
The latest involved moving trash cans into the street for pick
up. The consequence of this is after pick up there is a street
full of empty garbage cans blowing in the street. She has forgotten
that the majority of people in the community have a two income
household. So, there is no one around to pick up the empty can.
The fun really starts when I come home on trash day. I get to
play two games. The "trash can obstacle course" which
is played by driving normally but at the same time avoiding
the rolling cans from hitting the car. The degree of difficulty
for this game - 9.5. Then I get to play the "trash can
scavenger hunt". This is really fun. Search the community
for your trash can in the cold winter night. When you find the
one you bought - you win.
In any event, I will definitely have my say.
Now, seeing that the association will most likely
do nothing until the snow stops (which will probably be first
thing tomorrow), I decided to take action this morning. I didn't
do this for me. I didn't do this for my
wife either.
I did it for the dogs.
Poor Guinness.
Initially, when I walked him first thing this morning, he was
very much like the elf, Legolas. His fourteen pound body was
walking happily on top of the snow drifts. Then all of a sudden
the snow gave way from underneath him and he sank into it. That
was eight inches of dog height versus 3 feet of snow drift.
There are people who think dogs don't register a surprised facial
expression. Well, Guinness has a very wide array of facial expressions
and "surprise" is definitely one of them.
Killian, on the
other hand, loved the snow. He ran out of the house into the
first snow drift and propelled himself into the the air to the
next one. He looked like a hairy blue-eyed dolphin leaping from
snow bank to snow bank. I had the dogs take care of their immediate
needs then I took them back inside. I then grabbed my gloves
and shovel and set to work. It was 8:AM.
I figured if I could shovel a path to the street,
Guinness would be able to mark his territory against the three
foot snow wall I made for him and there wouldn't be any trouble.
The distance from my house to the street is approximately 35
feet. It was still snowing quite hard. I knew this would be
only a temporary solution but I justified in my mind that if
I shoveled the huge amount of snow initially going back and
shoveling every foot of accumulation would not be so bad.
There are certain events that seem to not be
so bad intellectually but upon experiencing them again are much
worse than what the imagination can recall. I submit the following
to be true: child birth, decorating for the holidays, going
to the dentist, and a colon exam. All of these experiences don't
seem altogether that bad when remembering them, but when you
experience them again, they really are that bad.
So, I submit snow shoveling as well.
I remember when I was a very young man, my parents
chose slave #1 (me) to go out and shovel our walk. As I was
the eldest and only son, it seemed justifiable for them to send
me to do heavy work - like shoveling. I would have to shovel
the walk to the driveway and all of the driveway by myself.
I was 12.**
You do know that kids can hurt their backs, too,
right?
The walk to my parents house has 3 8' X 8' steps
landscaped into the front yard, this led about 50 feet to the
4 car concrete driveway. I would start out early in the morning
to shovel our house - by myself. Now, remember this was when
snow blowers were a luxury and the best way to get your walk
done was to hire a juvenile slave like myself for 5 bucks a
house. And that's what I got - 5 bucks for my trouble. Of course,
this cost a lot more than 5 dollars to do. It cost me - my back
and the opportunities to get to people would would pay me more
money than 5 dollars to do their walks. Normally, a kid, if
he got up early enough and had some friends, could get about
10 houses done in a day for 10 bucks each. The propensity to
earn money would be limited by two factors: how early you started
(to beat out the other kids), and how much stamina you had.
Doing my parents walk first always cost me both.
Ahhhhh, nostalgia. How I can romanticize about that now.
When I moved out, my parents bought a gas powered
snow shovel and hired a kid with a snow blower to do it.
Now, at age 37, I figured 35 feet was easy. So,
I got started. Experience has taught me that the best way to
handle a lot of snow at once was to shovel in layers. Shovel
the top. Shovel the middle. Shovel the bottom. 1 foot down 69
more to go. Yes, that's two rows to get the entire width of
the walk. It took me about half an hour to get the path shoveled
from the house to the street. I needed to rest now. I went inside
and sat down.
I want to recommend something. If you are past
thirty, try not to snow shovel. There are definite risks to
this chore like back strain and heart failure. However, if you
have to, here are some good preparations. These tips come from
the Ontario Chiropractic Association (where I'm sure they know
a lot about snow shoveling) as preventative measures:
- Warm-up. Before beginning any snow removal,
warm-up for five to ten minutes to get the joints moving and
increase blood circulation. A good warm-up should include
stretches for the back, shoulders, arms and legs. This will
ensure that your body is ready for action.
- Don't let the snow pile up. Removing small
amounts of snow on a frequent basis is less strenuous in the
long run.
- Pick the right shovel. Use a lightweight push-style
shovel. If you use a metal shovel, spray it with Teflon first
so snow won't stick.
- Push, don't throw. Push the snow to one side
and avoid throwing it as much as possible. If you have to
throw, avoid twisting and turning - position yourself to throw
straight at the snow pile.
- Bend your knees. Use your knees, leg and arm
muscles to do the pushing and lifting while keeping your back
straight.
- Take a break. If you feel tired or short of
breath, stop and take a rest. Stop shoveling immediately if
you feel chest or back pain.
As I said, I'd listen to the Canadians. They
know all about snow.
About an hour later, I looked out the window
to see how big the snow flakes were and saw my neighbor Norman***
shoveling his Jeep† out of his parking space. One of the
things that sucks about living in a condo community is there
are no garages. When the snow plow comes, residents are snowed
in and have to dig themselves out. In the spirit of community,
I decided that I should give him a hand.
Plus, I felt bad for him afterwards, I found
out that even if the blizzard gets horrible he'll still have
to work at NJ Transit and be available for when they lift any
kind of suspension from the bus lines tomorrow.
Well, one car turned into two cars. Two cars
turned into my two cars as well - making 4 cars. 4 cars turned
into shoveling his walk with him, his wife and daughter. The
walk turned into helping my next door neighbor Valerie out of
her house (she had a 4 foot snow drift keeping her trapped in
her house). I dug her out after walking waist deep across my
front yard to her house.
And as much as the work sucked (and it did
suck) the two good things that came out of it were a feeling
of accomplishment and a sense of community. My other neighbor
Suzanne, suggested it would be better if we all got together
in the summer instead when there was no snow and plenty of alcohol
to go around.
I agree.
Addendum February 18th, 2003
Last night, when I settled down and the back
pain was in full swing, I heard sweeping outside my door. The
association finally got around to sweeping the last dregs of
flurries from my walk. Nice. I get to shovel a ton of snow and
they send a guy with a broom to finish the quarter inch of snow
that was left. However, they did not get the packed down snow
that turned to ice this morning.
I almost busted my ass this morning walking the
dogs - again.
* - A French Toast
Emergency is what I term the inexplicable need for people
to lose their minds the night before a storm a purchase all
of the milk, eggs, and bread from the shelves - The ingredients
of French toast.
** - Coincidentally, this was the blizzard of 1978. One for
the record books, apparently.
*** - Norman is a very large man who works for NJ Transit.
I'm sure he didn't like doing this crap on a holiday. He and
his family are good people.
† - Having an SUV is justifiable
only in weather like this. It's one of the few times that it
makes a difference.
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