MONDAY, Dec. 29, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- Sleigh bells ring, children sing, and you tear your meniscus the first time you hit the slopes.
Better yet, you get frostbite from running outside or strain your shoulder from shoveling heavy snow.
These are some common scenarios that give a bad name to winter activities, but none of them are inevitable if you're willing to prep your body before you head out into the cold weather, health professionals say.
"People think, 'OK, it's time to ski,' but they're not preparing their bodies ahead of time," says Renee Daniels, a New York City fitness trainer with an expertise in medical exercise. "The body needs conditioning as it gets older. Muscles get tighter and lose flexibility, but people don't pay as much attention to training because they're busy at work, so they jump into skiing and blow out their ACL [anterior cruciate ligament]."
Even daily workouts are affected by weather-related conditions, says Dr. Andrew Rosen, an orthopedic surgeon at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.
"When you going outside for a long run, it's so cold that you just get going instead of taking the time to stretch or walk before you start your run," he says, which leads to strained or pulled muscles.
Also a danger is to run too long in cold weather so that you are far away from home before you realize you might have frostbite or even hypothermia, which is when your body temperature drops below 95 degrees.
"Someone can get hypothermia from any prolonged exposure to cold. A six-mile run in the cold can be enough exposure," he says.
None of this advice means you should settle on the couch for the winter, Rosen and Daniels say. In fact, it should be just the opposite.
"Winter exercise helps you manage your weight and stress levels, especially during the holidays, and maintain your fitness levels," Daniels says.
Also, Rosen says, keeping active year-round lowers your risk for injury.
"A lot of injuries occur from patients who work out regularly and then stop in the winter. Come spring, they get excited and jump right back into doing whatever they did in the fall with no preparation," he says, which is when they hurt themselves.
Winter exercise should include wearing the right clothes, as well as physical preparation for whatever activity you plan to do.
When exercising outdoors, dress in layers, preferably in synthetic fabrics, as they are more effective than cotton at moving perspiration away from your body. This is important, Rosen says, because if the perspiration is trapped next to your body, it gets cold and lowers your body temperature.
Wear a hat. As much as 30 percent of body heat can be lost through your head.
Be alert to signs of hypothermia, signaled by shivering, loss of coordination or slurred speech. Get to a warm place as soon as possible to reheat the body.
Ditto on frostbite -- blanching of skin in exposed areas such as fingers, earlobes, and nose. Treatment includes putting warm, not hot water, on the site, or tucking fingers, say, under a warm armpit.
If going skiing, snowboarding, or skating, you should prepare by strengthening your leg and stomach muscles -- "these help to control your upper body trunk and hip girdle, giving you better balance and control," Daniels says.
Rosen also recommends trying new activities during the winter to motivate yourself to be active. If you run outside for most of the year, go indoors. Join a gym and use the indoor equipment or find an indoor swimming pool.
"Doing these things will make you less likely to face an injury, and you will have an easier time getting back to an exercise routine in the spring," Rosen says.
More information
The Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center reports on the medical benefits to winter exercise. Further tips on winter exercise come from St. Vincent's Medical Center.
