North Jersey doctors give advice on treating, preventing shoveling aches, pains
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 22, 2014, 10:03 AM
BY STEFANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
This year, Old Man Winter has been a real pain in the neck. And in the shoulders. And in the lower back.
Especially the lower back, says Artie Beltramba, 52, of Little Falls. One of the season’s first storms left him in crippling pain after a round of shoveling.
“It was like somebody stabbed me in the back with a knife,” he said. “I couldn’t do anything.”
For five days he was basically bedridden, nearly unable to sit up without screaming, using ice packs, heating pads and aspirin to dull the pain. It eventually went away, but every time he has to shovel again — “like every three days” — it flares up again.
Beltramba is hardly alone. North Jersey doctors reported seeing an increased number of patients with shoveling-related pain and injuries this winter.
And the recent wet, heavy snow hasn’t made things easier. Dr. Asit K. Shah, Englewood Hospital and Medical Center’s associate chief of the Department of Orthopedics, said it’s “great for snowball fights, but sucks for the back.”
“Shoveling is a pretty intense exercise,” Shah added. “It’s like working out at a gym.”