Oh, the weather outside is frightful — and not needing a trip to the ER would be delightful.
Unfortunately, plenty of people end up in the hospital every year due to winter-related injuries, some serious enough to require surgery.
Dr. Nicole Stevens, an orthopedic trauma surgeon at NYU Langone, is warning about the most common threats and what you can do to avoid getting hurt.
Slips and falls
“Slips and falls are very common, especially after the first snowfall or ice storm of the year when it kind of freezes over. And the biggest injury I see from that is ankle fractures or ankle sprains,” Stevens told The Post.
Those falls can happen to people of any age — and can occur anywhere. In cities where people do a lot of walking, there’s plenty of opportunity to hit a slippery patch and go flying.
“The metal grates are a surprisingly slippery place to fall, like those subway grates, so I would watch out for those,” she warned.
In the suburbs, people are likely to lose their footing in their driveways, getting to or out of their cars.
And the doc cautioned that just because it’s not snowy doesn’t mean there’s no threat you’ll land on your butt.
“When there’s snow on the ground, people are cognizant about it. But when it’s wet and cold and there’s more of that black ice or slushy ice, people don’t recognize it can be pretty slippery.”
To make your steps a bit more careful, she recommends wearing shoes with grippy rubber soles, since flat soles can be extra slick against the ground.
Winter sports snafus
Even if you’re on the ice on purpose, you can still get hurt — and Stevens has seen her share of ice skating injuries.
“If you go ice skating at Bryant Park or something like that, and you’re not a typical ice skater, people can fall and have wrist injuries,” she said. “That’s another one that we see commonly when it starts to get cold out.”
Though she hasn’t seen a lot of sledding injuries, she recommends that if you do go sledding, you make sure your path is totally clear all the way down.
Shoveling mishaps
When patients come to her with a shoveling injury. it’s typically a matter of overuse.
“People should be aware that shoveling is a pretty labor intensive activity, so you can get very sore afterward,” she said.
There’s also a threat of developing tendonitis or serious shoulder and back injuries, especially if your technique is bad.
“It’s a rule of thumb anytime you’re lifting anything heavy — and a snow covered shovel counts — to bend from your knees, not bend over from your waist,” the doc advised. “Try to use your knees as much as possible, treating it more like a squatting activity, as opposed to bending at the hip and throwing the snow over your shoulder.”
Misadventures in snow blowing
“You should absolutely never put your hand inside the snowblower mechanism,” said Stevens.
“People can get pretty severe hand injuries from doing something like that. So if something is stuck or something, take it to a professional. Don’t try to jerry-rig it yourself.”
Don’t forget grandma and grandpa
Of course, the elderly are always more likely to get injured — and those injuries can be much more serious.
While it may seem safe inside your home when granny and gramps come to visit, it can be filled with hidden dangers.
“We also see an increase in geriatric injuries, like hip fractures from just slip and falls, inside. And I think some of it has to do with the fact that they’re out in an unfamiliar environment, like at a daughter or son’s house,” the doc said.
“So just make sure that when when you’re taking care of them, or when you’re getting them from point A to point B, that it’s safe,” she added, warning against clutter and upturned rugs.
