I love snow, for short periods anyway, the exercise of snow shoveling is a good hefty workout. There are some problems though, because the knowlege of anything being wrong in the body is pain, the early part of the problems may be missed until it is too late.
Here is what happens to your body:The body bends, twists and reaches while lifting to one side more than the other; This movement is much different than your typical daily activities therefore muscles, joints and nerves are overwhelmed;Your tissues are fatigued; The increase in activity increases blood circulation which can mask the early symptoms of fatigue and you may even feel energized; Once you stop moving as much, in a few minutes you are tired and want to rest; Instead of going through a cool down routine that symmetrically stretches the whole body you sit down or lye down; The sitting or lying position is often asymmetric overloading some body parts while resting others; Circulation decreases throughout the body often before the body has had a chance to remove all the cellular waste products from the increased activity and/or has had a chance to replace the energy stores that need to be present for the cell to perform as usual.
This is very similar to the weekend warrior syndrome where someone routinely over does physical activity on the weekends and does not enough all week. In these senarios the pain may not happen right away but the demands put on the body create compensations that lead to more significant injuries. With snow shoveling it is often not the day of shoveling when you experience pain and injury it is one to three weeks later when you have forgot all about the snow.
Answers: Appreciate how the body works to compensate and keep you out of pain while functioning through normal daily activities; Make time for a functional exercise program that warms up and cools down your whole body quickly and symmetrically; Acknowledge when you have over done it physically and don't just hope or assume nothing is wrong because there is no pain, be proactive and seek preventative treatment like Chiropractic, it helps you avoid the big injuries that cost more time, money and enjoyment of life!!!
Prevention is what we are all about, try our Functional Recovery and Improvement classes that will improve your body awareness and give you that 3 to 5 minute warm-up and cool-down routine to allow your body to be prepared for and recover from more activities.
Dr.McMaster
