Snow shovelling contributes to heart attacks

Wednesday’s day long snowfall brought on some sobering reminders about the health risks associated with shovelling. Three Hamilton area men died from heart attacks Wednesday afternoon while or shortly after they had shovelled their driveway.

In speaking with Hamilton EMS, all three of the incidents were called in between 4:30 and 5pm, just after the snowfall ended. It’s a scary risk that is unfortunately common around here.

It’s a difficult task. A physically demanding chore that is done in freezing cold weather .

Carmen Dangelo is with Hamilton EMS: “Combine those two factors and it puts a significant amount of stress on your heart.”

The biggest risk is for people middle aged and older, and those who may be out of shape. But the work has to be done, even by those at risk, so in order to stay protected there are some signs to look for. Dizzyness, shortness of breath, feeling light headed and the more serious.

Carmen says: “Your feeling a pressure in your chest, a pain a burning sensation, it could radiate down your arm, down your leg.”

Taking the risk factors and the warning signs into account, there are a few things you can do to better prepare yourself and prevent injury.

Chiropractor Ralph Sciullo says there are two simple but effective steps: “Proper bending and lifting techniques and using the proper equipment.”

He says the idea is to push snow, more than lifting it, but when you do lift: “The key thing is, is our knees want to be bent, ok, you want to keep it in front of us, and we want to push it forward as such, the danger occurs is when they do this, and we have people twisting and throwing.”

Many retailers offer more ergonomic shovels, which can be a huge help.

Ralph says: “The beauty of this type of shovel, a push shovel, is that I can get behind this, I can use two hands on it, and use my entire body weight to move the snow.”

But above all, even before you go out, Sciullo says it’s important to warm up, like you would for any sport: “It’ll make you less tired, you’ll be able to go at it a little longer, and it’ll just reduce your risk of injury.”

If you are at risk, you can also go to the Volunteer Hamilton website and sign up for the snow angel program.  They are also looking for volunteers who will be able to help others when the snow falls.