Best snow shovel

How to choose

First, decide whether you should shovel at all

This decision matters more than any shovel. In a national study of emergency visits from 1990 to 2006, heart problems made up 6.7% of shovel-related cases, and they accounted for all 1,647 deaths.³ Reports estimate that hundreds of people in the US die during or just after clearing snow each year.⁴

The strain can approach an all-out effort, even for young, healthy men who don't train. In a controlled trial, ten healthy, untrained men with an average age of 32 cleared about 4 inches of heavy, wet snow.¹⁴ At 10 minutes, their average heart rate reached 97% of maximum, and the demand rivaled a maximal treadmill test.¹⁴ The less fit men ran the highest rates.¹⁴ Cold makes it worse, because it raises your blood pressure while it narrows the arteries of your heart.⁴

Hospital records show the same pattern. In a Quebec study of 128,073 heart attack admissions and 68,155 heart attack deaths, 20 centimeters of snow (about 8 inches) was tied to 16% higher odds of admission and 34% higher odds of death in men the next day.¹⁵ Women showed no clear rise.¹⁵ That study tracked snowfall, not who shoveled, but it fits the other evidence.¹⁵

Don't shovel if you've had a heart attack or stroke, or bypass surgery or angioplasty. The same goes if you have a sedentary lifestyle, obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol or high blood pressure, or if you smoke or used to. Barry Franklin, lead author of the American Heart Association's 2020 statement on exercise and heart events, says these people simply should not shovel snow.⁴ Hire someone. If you have any medical condition or don't exercise regularly, talk to your doctor before you clear snow by any method.¹⁶

If you're healthy and you do shovel, start early, take short breaks and move less at a time. Stop right away if you feel chest pain or pressure, shortness of breath, lightheadedness, palpitations or an irregular heartbeat. These can be signs of a heart attack, so get emergency care, and call 911 if the symptoms don't go away shortly after you stop.^{4 16}

Don't treat a snow blower as a safe way out

A blower can reduce the demand on your heart, but pushing one can still raise your heart rate and blood pressure quickly, and the heart association's expert says research shows a higher heart attack risk even with blowers.⁴ A national study of emergency visits from 2003 to 2018 counted 648 deaths tied to snow blowers, and 647 of them were cardiac. It also estimated 91,451 visits, and 44.5% came from putting a hand in the chute.¹⁷ Never do that. Stop the engine, wait more than 5 seconds, and clear the chute with a solid object.¹⁶

Buy for less lifting and less bending

Exertion is the main cause of shovel injuries. US emergency rooms saw an estimated 195,100 shovel cases from 1990 to 2006, or about 11,500 a year.³ Exertion caused 53.9% of them, and 34.3% involved the lower back.³ Slips and falls caused another 20.0%, and no shovel fixes that, so wear boots with slip-resistant soles.^{3 16}

A bent shaft has the best lab support we found. In a study of eight healthy people doing a simulated lift, it cut peak lower back load by 11.8% and total load over the lift by 16.5% compared with a straight shaft, and a separate 12-person study found less forward bending with no added twisting.^{18 19} When two shovels are otherwise close, take the bent shaft, but don't expect it to fix heavy loads or bad form. Second handles are less clear. In a lab study of farm youth shoveling out an animal stall, add-on handles cut forward bending but added twisting, rated worse with users, and appeared to have minimal effect on low back injury risk.²⁰ It didn't test snow or the Shovelution's handle, which has reviewer support only.

Length matters too. GearLab's short-shafted aluminum scoop forced its testers to hunch, and the orthopedic surgeons' academy says to avoid a shovel that's too heavy or too long for you.^{1 16}

Push when you can, but only in shallow snow

The heart association and the orthopedic surgeons both prefer pushing to lifting, and it does spare you the lift and throw.^{4 16} It doesn't make a big storm safe for your heart. In a small 1995 study of nine men in very deep snow, about 16 to 24 inches, heart rate was about the same with a shovel and a pusher, at 141 and 142 beats a minute.²¹ The pusher used more oxygen, and the authors called the work unsuitable for anyone with cardiac risk factors.²¹

Pushers suit light snow under about 3 inches, and they need somewhere to put it.¹ One wide pusher in GearLab's test was unusable in 18 inches of heavy, wet snow.¹ If you clear early and often, a pusher is the faster tool. If you wait for the storm to end, or your driveway is lined with banks, you need a scoop that can lift.

Stay narrow for heavy snow

A wider blade holds more, and the orthopedic surgeons advise scooping small amounts.¹⁶ Blades of 18 to 20 inches are easier to manage in heavy snow, and 30 to 36 inches belongs to light snow.¹ Loads add up fast. One reviewer hung a full scoop of heavy, wet snow from a luggage scale and read 24 pounds.¹¹ If the shovel fills faster than you can move it, go narrower.

Match the edge to your surface

Many plastic shovels carry a metal wear strip along the edge, including the Shovelution and the Mountain Mover, so read the listing.^{2 7 12} Metal can leave marks on pavers, flagstone and natural stone, and it can scratch decking.² A steel pusher damaged wood surfaces in Real Simple's test.⁸ For those surfaces, choose a plastic or nylon edge.

Metal works better on ice. Most plastic shovels, even with a metal insert, scraped far worse than full metal blades in GearLab's test, and for solid ice it says nothing comes close to an ice breaker.¹

How many you need

Most homes need one scoop or combo shovel for walks and steps. Add a wide pusher for a long driveway, and an ice chopper if you get ice.¹ A large driveway in a heavy-snow area may call for a snow blower, with the cautions above.