Muscle strains and tears can be your true enemy when shoveling snow. Often when people think of winter injuries they fear falling on the ice. While this does happen, Eric Turner of JET Physical Therapy says strains and tears are more common. Turner tells KCII News, they see a lot of back and neck injuries in the winter that are related to stiffness and living a more sedentary lifestyle. The danger is shoveling snow without stretching.

Turner recommends always stretching in the morning and exercising as much as you can in your home or taking advantage of local gyms during winter months.