How to keep yourself from getting injured this winter season

December 2025 recorded the largest snowfall for the month in the last 20 years. Physiotherapists Seth and Steven share tips on preventing injuries.

December 2025 recorded the largest snowfall for the month in the last 20 years. Physiotherapists Seth Waselenchuk and Steven Canduro joined CTV Your Morning Edmonton’s Cory Edel to discuss how people can prevent injuries when it comes to shovelling or slipping on ice.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Cory Edel: What do we need to do to get ourselves primed before we head outside to do some shoveling?

Seth Waselenchuk: Five minutes before shovelling, it’s good to start doing some warm up stuff, but the real changes are going to happen five weeks before or five months before. Try to build up some strength and do it in a graded and consistent way.

In the minutes leading up to it, try to bring that heart rate up a little bit. Maybe you do a set of stairs, maybe you start a little bit slower.

Then taking what you need, right? If something’s feeling tight, stretch that out. We can always walk through some of that, consulting with your physio if you need to. Be specific to yourself because everyone’s different and everyone’s body needs something different.

Cory: What is the best technique for shovelling?

Steven Canduro: Similar to what Seth was saying, regardless of technique, your best prevention is going to come from putting in some work the weeks and months prior to actually shovelling. But when shovelling, I want to focus on my core and my hips. So you’re going to want to get into a good hinge position. Sometimes we see people really round their backs. You want to think about sitting down into a chair, keeping that shovel nice and close, then when you’re at the point of actually lifting the snow, you’re gonna push with your hips, rather than purely lifting with your back.

Cory: Does your form change if we’ve got light versus wet snow?

Steven: Wet snow is obviously going to be a lot heavier. If you’re dealing with some really wet and heavy snow, instead of lifting the snow this far away from your back, that’s going to increase the strain, you’re going to keep the shovel nice and close to you and push with your hips and try to use those big hip muscles to lift it.

Cory: Let’s move on from shovelling to walking on ice. Is there a good technique if we know our sidewalk or the road is a bit icy to tackle that?

Seth: Avoiding it is the best idea but if you can’t, try to keep those strides pretty short and keep your feet underneath you.

Throw those spikes on the bottom of the shoes.

If it really comes down to it, stay close to things and protect the head. That’s number one and we can deal with the rest of the body where we need to.

Cory: Is there a proper way to fall?

Seth: If you do, use your arms to make sure your head doesn’t hit the ice. Protect your neck. Wrist injuries are not fun, but we can rehabilitate that. We can for your head too, but it’s a little more of a nuisance.

Cory: Are there very common injuries that you’re seeing this time of year?

Steven: A lot of lower back stuff from things like shovelling and falling. We also see a ton of motor vehicle accidents. We all know the roads haven’t been the greatest this time of year, so we see quite a bit of that. Also a little bit of elbow and wrist stuff, maybe some bicep stuff as well from shovelling.

Cory: If you’ve got just a minor ache or pain or something that feels maybe muscular, at what point do you go in to get it checked out or to start getting work done?

Steven: I would say right away because the sooner you get on it, the easier it’s going to be to deal with. If you leave it for a couple days or a couple weeks and it just keeps getting worse, that’s when we get to the point where it’s going to take a little bit longer to recover.