Walking Like a Penguin Can Keep You Safe on Ice

This winter has had its share of snow and ice. It is safer to stay home and watch the precipitation fall without venturing outside but if you do, change your stride and waddle like a penguin.

Walking on icy driveways or sidewalks can be dangerous, reported HuffPost. In fact, 800,000 people a year who slipped on ice require medical care.

“These falls are quite frequent,” Dr. Kariline Bringe, an orthopedic surgeon at Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse, Wisconsin, told HuffPost. “One in five of them actually end up in an injury that requires care. So, if we eliminate the fall, we’ll eliminate those injuries.”

But when it comes to reducing falls, experts say there is just one tip they want everyone to know before they go out in icy weather and that is to walk just like a penguin.

How to Walk Like a Penguin
Unless you have visited a zoo or watched cute penguin videos, you may have no idea how penguins walk. But don’t worry there are instructions.

“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.

She explained that you have to keep your knees slightly bent so you can react if you need to. Keep your wings – arms – available to help you keep your balance. Do not hold your phone or keep your hands in your pockets. Walk slowly like a shuffle and keep your center of gravity above your feet by wobbling slightly forward.

“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 said. But small, slow, shuffled steps will reduce your chance of falling and if you do, there won’t be much force behind it.

What Else Can You Do in Icy Weather
Elderly people are the most at risk from falls, reported Metro UK, in fact, one third of people over 65  and half of people over 80, experience falls every year. This especially concerns people who have osteoporosis or mobility issues.

If you use a cane or walker, make sure you have them with you before venturing out. It’s also important that you wear the right footwear that have proper nonskid traction. If you can follow someone else’s tracks, it’s safer to go where people have gone before.

But what happens if you fall? If you are walking slowly like a penguin and your arms are free, you should tuck your chin and try to protect your head. Don’t move right away. Check for injuries first, and then the NHS recommends that you look for something stable to help pull yourself up with. Otherwise, you risk falling again.

So even if you think it looks weird or feels funny, walking like a penguin can save you from serious injuries when the wintry conditions are truly frightful.