I don't know whether it was the severe winter in the Northeast in 2003 that prompted such creativity or just a coincidence. But in the latter part of the same year, three new snow shovel designs crossed my desk. One proud manufacturer even sent me a sample shovel in the mail.

I find this all very interesting because I've been shoveling snow for 34 years (I started when I was about 10). Anyway, I've shoveled, plowed and used a snow thrower, but I never thought much about it all until a cold and rainy day in spring 2003. I stood up after my morning train ride, turned to take my briefcase off the rack above me and--wham!--a pain shot diagonally up and along my back. That muscle injury ruined my summer and led to almost two months of physical therapy. Now, I look at snow shoveling in a new light. And I'm not sure I like what I see.

First Stop: First Health
After some fruitless searching I found a physical therapist that had hours and a location I could work with. That brought me to First Health Physical Therapy (47 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019; 212-421-1740). Noah Hyman, owner and therapist, and Nicole Butler, therapist, had a lot to say about snow shoveling and body mechanics, generally. What surprised me was how little I knew about those subjects--even after three decades of snow shoveling and a range of other activities in construction, wood cutting, furniture making and goodness knows what else.

As far as snow shoveling is concerned, with 34 years of experience, I would have thought I had learned to do it without injury. Apparently not, I'm sorry to say.

"It all comes from your legs," explains Hyman, demonstrating with a shovel that I sent him for evaluation (more about that in a minute). And as he demonstrates proper shoveling procedure, Butler narrates: "Keep your back straight, stomach tight and turn your whole body." Hyman makes a sequence of motions for cutting into the snow, lifting and dumping, while using his legs to power the process.

"No twisting," Butler adds emphatically as Hyman shows how to turn and dump without twisting his torso.

I sent Hyman a sample of the Sno-Easy shovel shown to the right. The shovel is unique in that it has a front handle, a back handle and a rotating scoop. You cut into the snow, lift with the front handle and twist at the back handle to dump the load. The shovel's bearing-mounted scoop allows it to turn over and dump while your forward hand remains stationary.

Still, Hyman's well-trained eye found a fly in the snow-shoveling ointment. The Sno-Easy's design requires a potentially strenuous twist of your wrist, and the forward handle design means that one shoulder sees a greater load when lifting. It's also important to keep the scoop evenly loaded. If not, it may tip before you have a chance to dump it, he points out, as Butler places a small weight unevenly on the scoop to demonstrate.

Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not panning this product. It's innovative. And like any product it has strengths and limitations. Among its strong points are light weight and a small scoop, which prohibits the user from being too ambitious. Also, its handle length is adjustable using a spring-loaded button.

My advice is to consider this product at the company's Web site: www.sno-easy.com. The shovel costs about $25, plus shipping.

For more-conventional snow-shoveling tools, click to the next page.

Scoop Or Push, You Decide
Union Tools calls its tool the Snow Hog. It's a hybrid between a shovel and a pusher. The tool's glossy plastic blade has heavy reinforcement ribbing, and its tube steel handle has an offset bend in it to promote better posture during snow removal. The front of the scoop has a steel wear strip.

Like most conventionally designed shovels, you can see that this product has a blade that permits you to remove a large scoop of snow in a single pass. While taking a big bite out of a snow-covered surface helps you get done quickly, it can also get you hurt in a hurry. It makes sense with any snow shovel to work as Hyman and Butler suggest on the previous page--use your legs and not your back.The Snow Hog costs about $16 at hardware stores and home centers. Visit Union Tools at its Web site: www.uniontools.com.

Next up is the Snow Plow. As its name implies, it's a human-powered plow and not a shovel at all. The tool uses a 24-in.-wide blade set at an angle to the wood handle, and the blade's curvature is designed to produce the same tube-shaped roll of snow that a truck-powered plow produces.

I haven't tried it, but I think the design has merit and it eliminates the need to lift the snow. It might be just the ticket for snow falls in the 4-in. to 6-in. range.

Obviously, the Snow Plow's effectiveness depends on your own traction. To use it, you'll need boots with an aggressive tread on their soles, otherwise you won't be able to maintain sufficient forward motion.

The Snow Plow costs about $25 (plus shipping) from the Ames-True Temper Web site (www.ames.com). You can also order it by calling 888-338-6657.