You don’t shovel the walk and somebody could be injured, you shovel the walk and you could be injured. It’s a cruel irony of winter but there are ways to avoid hurting yourself while clearing the walk and drive.
The average snow shovel is about 16 pounds of snow. If you times that over a 30 minute period of time, you could be looking at 20,000 pounds of snow and so it should come as no surprise that this can lead to all kinds of medical problems.
To avoid a trip to E.R. you should need to know your limits. It may be faster to load up the shovel but maybe your body can’t handle that kind of weight. Dress warmly because people tend to rush when they are cold and this increases your risk of injury. Use the proper tools for the job. Angled shovels are great for pushing lighter snow while shovels with a wider handle are better for the heavy stuff. And finally, avoid building that “mountain of manhood”. Lifting heavy unstable loads above your head to make a pile bigger than your neighbors is a formula for pain.
