An icy sidewalk, driveway or walking trail is a real danger. Roughly 800,000 people who slip and fall each year need medical attention, according to the Mayo Clinic. Even if you don’t end up in the hospital, slipping on ice can still be really painful, resulting in scraped knees, bruised elbows and other ailments.
“These falls are quite frequent … 1 in 5 of them actually end up in an injury that requires care,” said Dr. Kariline Bringe, an orthopedics surgeon at Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse, Wisconsin. “So, if we eliminate the fall, we’ll eliminate those injuries.”
When it comes to eliminating the fall, experts say there is one tip they especially want everyone to know when walking in icy, snowy weather.
To keep from slipping, walk like a penguin.
It may sound funny, but experts say the best way to keep yourself from slipping on the ice is by changing your stride.
“It’s called penguin walking because you do kind of look like a penguin while you’re doing this type of walk,” said Monica Leach, a physical therapist and board-certified clinical specialist in geriatric physical therapy at the Cleveland Clinic.
Here’s how to do the penguin walk, as explained by Leach:
- “Keep your knees slightly bent so you’re in an active position, ready to react if you need to.”
- “You’re pointing your feet slightly outward, you have your arms out at your side to help balance you.”
- “And you’re walking [slowly] with a flat foot or a shuffle step almost.”
- “[You’re] keeping your center of gravity over your feet — so you might be like leaning forward just a little bit.”
Shuffled, penguin-like steps keep you more stable.
“I think the big key here is slowing down, taking these small shuffling steps,” Bringe said.
The reason has a lot to do with friction and gravity. “As it gets icy out there and things get slippery, the larger our steps, the more force you’re coming across. It’s going to increase the likelihood that you slip,” Bringe explained.
Conversely, penguin-like steps ― small, slow and shuffled ― are going to decrease your risk of slipping, she said.
“If you do slip, you don’t have so much momentum behind it. So you’re less likely to slide a long way,” Bringe said. And with your center of gravity above your feet, it’s less likely that a small slip will turn into a big fall.
With your arms free, you can catch yourself if you do end up falling.
Another thing that makes this an efficient way of walking is the…
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