December 2, 2025 • 7 mins
Dr. Larry Benz, a prominent physical therapist from Pro Rehab, shares ideas for preparing for rigorous snow shoveling and how to treat your body after the job is complete.
Hot tub? Absolutely not.
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Hot tub? Absolutely not.
Listen for details.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Doctor Larry Benz joins us again from Confluent Health also
known as pro Rehab. Around here, physical therapy specialists always
good to speak with you, sir, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Terry to be here, and sorry about all the snow
we're having it.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Well, that's why I thought I thought it'd be a
good time to talk to you. Here we are, we're
in the changing seasons. The human body obviously reacts differently
the colder weather. But let's jump right into what people
are doing today, and that is shoveling snow. I was
out before six a m. Cranking that snow around in
the driveway, and I bet you're about to tell me
that was not a good idea to do without stretching first.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
No, that's exactly right. I think you know after pickleball,
you know shoveling snow is likely going to get your
trips to physical therapy and come see me. But what
I tell folks that have a history of heart issues,
or think of blood pressure, or those like yourself who've
had back pain, the best thing you could do is
probably honestly hire a teenager, or use a snowblower if
(00:58):
you have one, or just really think of outsourcing it
because One of the things people forget about is that
shoveling snow is a full body workout. You don't think
of it that way, but how many would you jump
into a big workout, or run a marathon or do
anything without warming up. So you have to think of
shoveling snow is, you know, the peloton of the day
(01:19):
or the workout of the day, and so you really
need to spend a good five to ten minutes warming up,
preferably before you even get outside, and then a few
minutes when you're outside, you know a little bit of
brisk walking, some arm circles, leg swings, you know. And
I think torso rotations are really critical because when somebody
gets in trouble for shoveling snow, it's not the weight
(01:41):
of the snow, it's that they twist and so they
take this whole body, They take the snow, they go
to throw it out, and they move the torso rather
than move the combination of their waist in their hips.
So's think of a golf swing. You're a golfer, and
very very seldom, in particularly your age, would you think
of pletely, you know, separation between your torso, between your
(02:04):
chest and your and your thighs and your legs, and
so you want to move those things as a unit,
just like you would engulf to some extent. Obviously there's
a little wiggle room there. And then snow is heavy.
I mean, boy, that accumulates, so you're you know, it's
like putting a bowling ball on an outstretched hands. You
got to really, really, you know, think of you know,
small amounts. And then the last piece that I tell
(02:24):
folks is take a break. You know, you're you need
some water because you're going to get dehydrated. And the
signs of that is your muscles start to cramp a
little bit. People think it's cold outside, they don't need water, Well,
you need just as much, particularly if you've had coffee
in the morning. So one of the worst things you
could do is drink a lot of coffee and then
go out and shovel Snow, you're going to be dehydrated,
your muscles are going to likely cramp and strain, and
(02:46):
you know you're going to be succumbing yourself to a
workout where your heart rate is pounding, and yet you
don't even realize it. So so it is truly truly
a test of stamina and really a lot of warning
symbols signals to go by.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Well, since you have your not to do list, could
you go on and just put terry miners and then
check every one of those things? Because I didn't do
any of those things. But that's good advice. And does
it matter whether because I got up early this morning?
Does it matter if you've already lived through the day.
You know, you're doing all the different things you do
at work or play or whatever it is, and then
(03:20):
you go out and shovel in the evening. Does it
still take the same amount of prep?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yes, it does, and in fact is safer the later
in the day you do it, because you're likely a
little warmed up naturally, you're likely hydrated more than first
thing in the morning, and you likely haven't been drinking,
you know, a ton of coffee, and so you have
a natural sort of warmth if you will, I think
the other you know, last piece, I guess I didn't
mention it was you know, what should you do post shoveling?
(03:44):
Are there some stretches you should do? And absolutely, because
what will happen is you get in these static positions
you're moving your tarso and moving your chest and you
got all this weight on an outstretched hand, and so
you really need to come in. You need to stretch
down a little bit. You know some needa chest types
I don't know if you're familiar with. You know, a
child's pose where you're kind of kneeling on and you
(04:04):
pull your arm through, and some hamstring stretch. These all
things you could you could pull up in any and
any video platform of choice. And then you know, what
should you do if you're sore, Well, of course you
want to start out with a little bit of ice.
And what you don't want to do is jump into
a hot tub. And I see this over and over
people say, well, I only had a little bit of strain,
and then man, it got worse about an hour or
(04:25):
two later. What did you do in the in between, Well,
I jumped out a hot bath. It was cold outside,
it felt good, it felt good, but it's not good
for your body. And so you have to really really
avoid any type of heat. So if you do it
later in the day, you know, wait a couple hours
or so before you shower. You know, if that's if
that's your routine.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Well, then the people who lie down and make snow
angels are actually smarter than I thought.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
They're icing their bad Absolutely, snow angels would be a
good thing to do, you know. From that standpoint, I noticed,
I don't know if you saw some of the football
games on Saturday, that's what some of the players are
doing for the game. I thought it was kind of
interesting rather than trying to plant flags, that were doing
snow angels, which is maybe a new routine.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
And just to wrap up for your doctor, Ben's let
people know what transition they should make in terms of
now the weather's colder. You you did whatever you do,
you walk, you play pickleball, you run on a treadmill,
whatever it happens to be, what increases or decreases as
the weather is colder.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, so when the weather gets colder, you're naturally more contracted.
And I think, you know, this is also precipitated a
little bit by the holidays because in the holidays, you know,
there's some interesting research that's been done on can you
gain weight, you know, by a big Thanksgiving meal and
the and the actually you know, the answer is absolutely
you can, and the data shows that people do. So
(05:44):
you got two things working against you a little bit.
You got you got a little bit of maybe a
three to five pound weight game, you're a little bit
less active, and then all of a sudden, you know,
you got all this muscle tension from the cold. And
so what you got to do is think about smaller
meal outside of your big meals, think about staying active,
even if it's just marking in place. You know, the
(06:05):
threshold for staying in shape is not nearly the threshold
that it is for getting in shape, So maintenance is
a whole lot easier. You know, you can do what
we'd like to call exercise snacks. That would be getting
up out of a chair, you know, every couple hours
doing fifteen full body squats, you know, for about a minute.
That would be maybe getting out, walking up and downstairs
(06:28):
for another minute. So think think of you know, instead
of eating a snack, thy can doing an exercise snack.
And there's actually some pretty profound research around it. And
it's simple and it's unmeasured, and people can do it spontaneously,
don't need to you know, go into their rolodex or
i mean in their calendar, and you know, for them
all kinds of you know, plant care settings, they can
(06:48):
just go out and do it. So that's the advice
of today exercise snack.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Well, you just changed the meaning of the word snack
for me. That was that was a real twist. I
wasn't expecting. Doctor Ben's preppreciate you as always and we
send people to pro rehab all throughout the area if
you haven't pains, aches and pain somewhere or preventative measures too.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Thanks Larry, absolutely, buddy, take good talk to you.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Bye bye.
Doctor Larry Benz joins us again from Confluent Health also
known as pro Rehab. Around here, physical therapy specialists always
good to speak with you, sir, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Terry to be here, and sorry about all the snow
we're having it.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Well, that's why I thought I thought it'd be a
good time to talk to you. Here we are, we're
in the changing seasons. The human body obviously reacts differently
the colder weather. But let's jump right into what people
are doing today, and that is shoveling snow. I was
out before six a m. Cranking that snow around in
the driveway, and I bet you're about to tell me
that was not a good idea to do without stretching first.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
No, that's exactly right. I think you know after pickleball,
you know shoveling snow is likely going to get your
trips to physical therapy and come see me. But what
I tell folks that have a history of heart issues,
or think of blood pressure, or those like yourself who've
had back pain, the best thing you could do is
probably honestly hire a teenager, or use a snowblower if
(00:58):
you have one, or just really think of outsourcing it
because One of the things people forget about is that
shoveling snow is a full body workout. You don't think
of it that way, but how many would you jump
into a big workout, or run a marathon or do
anything without warming up. So you have to think of
shoveling snow is, you know, the peloton of the day
(01:19):
or the workout of the day, and so you really
need to spend a good five to ten minutes warming up,
preferably before you even get outside, and then a few
minutes when you're outside, you know a little bit of
brisk walking, some arm circles, leg swings, you know. And
I think torso rotations are really critical because when somebody
gets in trouble for shoveling snow, it's not the weight
(01:41):
of the snow, it's that they twist and so they
take this whole body, They take the snow, they go
to throw it out, and they move the torso rather
than move the combination of their waist in their hips.
So's think of a golf swing. You're a golfer, and
very very seldom, in particularly your age, would you think
of pletely, you know, separation between your torso, between your
(02:04):
chest and your and your thighs and your legs, and
so you want to move those things as a unit,
just like you would engulf to some extent. Obviously there's
a little wiggle room there. And then snow is heavy.
I mean, boy, that accumulates, so you're you know, it's
like putting a bowling ball on an outstretched hands. You
got to really, really, you know, think of you know,
small amounts. And then the last piece that I tell
(02:24):
folks is take a break. You know, you're you need
some water because you're going to get dehydrated. And the
signs of that is your muscles start to cramp a
little bit. People think it's cold outside, they don't need water, Well,
you need just as much, particularly if you've had coffee
in the morning. So one of the worst things you
could do is drink a lot of coffee and then
go out and shovel Snow, you're going to be dehydrated,
your muscles are going to likely cramp and strain, and
(02:46):
you know you're going to be succumbing yourself to a
workout where your heart rate is pounding, and yet you
don't even realize it. So so it is truly truly
a test of stamina and really a lot of warning
symbols signals to go by.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Well, since you have your not to do list, could
you go on and just put terry miners and then
check every one of those things? Because I didn't do
any of those things. But that's good advice. And does
it matter whether because I got up early this morning?
Does it matter if you've already lived through the day.
You know, you're doing all the different things you do
at work or play or whatever it is, and then
(03:20):
you go out and shovel in the evening. Does it
still take the same amount of prep?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yes, it does, and in fact is safer the later
in the day you do it, because you're likely a
little warmed up naturally, you're likely hydrated more than first
thing in the morning, and you likely haven't been drinking,
you know, a ton of coffee, and so you have
a natural sort of warmth if you will, I think
the other you know, last piece, I guess I didn't
mention it was you know, what should you do post shoveling?
(03:44):
Are there some stretches you should do? And absolutely, because
what will happen is you get in these static positions
you're moving your tarso and moving your chest and you
got all this weight on an outstretched hand, and so
you really need to come in. You need to stretch
down a little bit. You know some needa chest types
I don't know if you're familiar with. You know, a
child's pose where you're kind of kneeling on and you
(04:04):
pull your arm through, and some hamstring stretch. These all
things you could you could pull up in any and
any video platform of choice. And then you know, what
should you do if you're sore, Well, of course you
want to start out with a little bit of ice.
And what you don't want to do is jump into
a hot tub. And I see this over and over
people say, well, I only had a little bit of strain,
and then man, it got worse about an hour or
(04:25):
two later. What did you do in the in between, Well,
I jumped out a hot bath. It was cold outside,
it felt good, it felt good, but it's not good
for your body. And so you have to really really
avoid any type of heat. So if you do it
later in the day, you know, wait a couple hours
or so before you shower. You know, if that's if
that's your routine.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Well, then the people who lie down and make snow
angels are actually smarter than I thought.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
They're icing their bad Absolutely, snow angels would be a
good thing to do, you know. From that standpoint, I noticed,
I don't know if you saw some of the football
games on Saturday, that's what some of the players are
doing for the game. I thought it was kind of
interesting rather than trying to plant flags, that were doing
snow angels, which is maybe a new routine.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
And just to wrap up for your doctor, Ben's let
people know what transition they should make in terms of
now the weather's colder. You you did whatever you do,
you walk, you play pickleball, you run on a treadmill,
whatever it happens to be, what increases or decreases as
the weather is colder.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, so when the weather gets colder, you're naturally more contracted.
And I think, you know, this is also precipitated a
little bit by the holidays because in the holidays, you know,
there's some interesting research that's been done on can you
gain weight, you know, by a big Thanksgiving meal and
the and the actually you know, the answer is absolutely
you can, and the data shows that people do. So
(05:44):
you got two things working against you a little bit.
You got you got a little bit of maybe a
three to five pound weight game, you're a little bit
less active, and then all of a sudden, you know,
you got all this muscle tension from the cold. And
so what you got to do is think about smaller
meal outside of your big meals, think about staying active,
even if it's just marking in place. You know, the
(06:05):
threshold for staying in shape is not nearly the threshold
that it is for getting in shape, So maintenance is
a whole lot easier. You know, you can do what
we'd like to call exercise snacks. That would be getting
up out of a chair, you know, every couple hours
doing fifteen full body squats, you know, for about a minute.
That would be maybe getting out, walking up and downstairs
(06:28):
for another minute. So think think of you know, instead
of eating a snack, thy can doing an exercise snack.
And there's actually some pretty profound research around it. And
it's simple and it's unmeasured, and people can do it spontaneously,
don't need to you know, go into their rolodex or
i mean in their calendar, and you know, for them
all kinds of you know, plant care settings, they can
(06:48):
just go out and do it. So that's the advice
of today exercise snack.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Well, you just changed the meaning of the word snack
for me. That was that was a real twist. I
wasn't expecting. Doctor Ben's preppreciate you as always and we
send people to pro rehab all throughout the area if
you haven't pains, aches and pain somewhere or preventative measures too.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Thanks Larry, absolutely, buddy, take good talk to you.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Bye bye.
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