How To Shovel Snow
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This may sound like a no-brainer but I every winter I see folks turn snow-shoveling into a hazardous sport. And make no mistake that snow removal can be a serious health risk. Just ask the hospitals how many extra patients they see for pulled muscles, back sprains, and heart attacks, after a good snowfall. If you are going to move snow, you first need to determine what your needs are and use the correct equipment.
If you live in the country with several hundred yards of country lane, you are obviously going to need serious tractor type equipment. Or a good contractor. I am going to limit my comments to the residential needs here in town.
If you have an over-large amount of yardage to cover, such as double sidewalks on corner lots or a double/triple car driveways, you are a prime candidate for one of the motorized snow-blowers. Occasionally we get the whopping snow fall of more than 3-5 inches. But most of the time lately our downfalls have been in the range of 1 to 3 inches.
I watched an elderly gentleman try to clean his sidewalk one year after a snowfall of less than ½ inch, he was using a massive 10 hp unit designed for depths of 6 inches or more and he was missing most of his target. But he had POWER. On the other hand I have watched others use those electric brooms to try to handle the deep drifts and that doesn’t work either.
First you need to decide how important clearing the snow is going to be. Is it going to block you in, and others out? Is this something that you want done first thing, before anyone walks or drives on it? Or is this a project you can get to later in the day? If it is an exceptionally heavy snowfall can you just let it set for a spell, or even hire it done once or twice a winter?
Next you need to determine how much exercise you are ready to undertake, and when. Its one thing to take a couple hours on a Saturday to clean-up the driveway, but quite another for a Tuesday morning before work and school? If you are comfortable with the amount of exercise needed and the amount of time it will usually take, I recommend manual snow removal.
I like to clear my snow before I get tracks on it simply because snow is such a bear to remove once its been packed by foot prints or cars. My sidewalk and driveway areas are nominal so I can usually clear them off if I get on it directly in the morning.
Next you have to select what tools to use. If the snow is light and dry, I may just use a good stiff shop broom. This works real well for clearing cars in heavy snow too. But if it is a heavier snowfall I grab my old-fashioned snow shovel.
Now it is important to identify some of the different types of snow shovels in the stores and how they differ. First, I don’t really want to ‘shovel’ the snow. Digging and lifting are great for the ER rooms and chiropractors but not for us. You will see many varieties of snow shovels in the stores designed to dig and lift, others with a bent handle for sliding then lifting, and my favorite, the one with a blade that looks like an upside-down “J.†This is my choice.
I want to be dressed warm but not so that I am constricted. And I want to be able to ventilate my clothing as I exercise so I don’t get too warm. Good gloves are a must, as are ear covering. This chore doesn’t need to be a test of endurance, nor an opportunity for pneumonia.
Like the golf pros say, you need to ‘address’ your shovel. Place one hand over-top of the handle about mid-way down the shaft, the other needs to cup the top. It is important that you do not allow the hand on the top of the shaft to cover the end with the palm. It needs to wrap around the end but not cover it.
If you allow this hand to cover the end of the shaft the impression is that you will add more control and more power in your stroke. But in actuality you will be vulnerable to injury. If, and it will happen often, your blade hits an obstruction the shovel will abruptly stop. This can result in severe impact being transmitted to the bones in your palm, and a very stinging sensation. It can even lead to damage. But by grasping the top of the handle around the shaft, your hand will simply slip away upon impact.
The “J†blade shovel is really designed to be a snowplow, and is not really a shovel at all. Close inspection will reveal that the design is impractical for digging and lifting. Instead this tool gains its best leverage when slid in a arc in front of you. Move it by pushing with one hand and pulling with the other in a kind of a swoosh or a swoop movement as you pivot from the waist.
Your energy is directed to simply moving the blade across the concrete, not in lifting. The motion will enable the design of the blade to lift and flip the snow as you swoop, just the same way the highway snowplows do on the road. It takes less energy to swoop than to dig and lift. Plus if you rely upon your major power coming from the action at your whole upper body you will not endanger your back and shoulder muscles as much.
Swoop and take a step forward, and swoop again. Watch the snow fly. Methodically you can quickly and easily manage to tame a fairly deep fall of snow this way. Single driveways are easily handled, swooping half going one way and the other half going to the opposite side. Double car driveways may take a second push to cover the extra yardage. And since you are using your energy in a more efficient fashion, you will finish quicker and not be in such a pile of sweat.
If the snow is too deep or too heavy for this technique, call your friend with one of those power blowers and let him show off. He’ll be more than happy to since it’ll probably be one of the few times he’s had to actually use the beast himself.
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