Just after the New Year, doctors at the German Society of Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery published an advisory on their website for the general public: To avoid slipping on slick pavements in freezing weather, walk like a penguin.
In below freezing temperatures, sidewalks and pavements can become slick with ice, making it more likely for people to fall and injure themselves.
Back in January 2014, municipal authorities in Berlin failed to preemptively spread rock salt over pavements in the capital to avoid having ice form overnight.
This oversight resulted in over 750 emergency calls in the days following. Many patients suffered from fractured bones.
Now, in preparation for more frigid temperatures and icy conditions, German doctors are advising people to “walk like penguins” to avoid slipping and falling on slippery surfaces.
Penguins walk at a forward lean. Their torsos lean forward, so their center of gravity falls on their front leg.
When humans walk, we generally spread our body weight evenly over both legs. Although it may not seem this way, orthopaedic surgeons say that spreading our weight more evenly actually increases our chances of losing balance and taking a bad fall.
Although not all of us live in Germany, we can all take this advice to heart. We’d much prefer looking a little silly for a couple days than spend months nursing a broken bone at home.
