Icy Sidewalk Life Hack: How to Walk on Ice After a New England Winter Storm

Shuffle, waddle, lean forward with your weight over the leg you're stepping forward with, and you should be okay, because the worst thing is getting super tense while trying to walk down icy sidewalks, streets, and driveways. So far, the best trick in the book, minus wearing metal grippers on the bottom of your boots, is walking like a penguin in these slick conditions that plague us much of the winter.

Even though we know how to be careful, we all hit those rushed or cocky moments and BOOM.

I am totally guilty of once stepping over a snow bank from the street, instead of walking around to the sidewalk entrance, and BOOM. I slipped on hidden ice and went down, jamming my fingers last year.  OUCH.

If only I'd walked like a penguin like this cute, animated penguin video demonstrates.

I was even more shocked to learn that according to MSN, about one million of us across the country are injured annually because of falls on ice and snow, with about 17,000 of those falls being fatal.

And what do you know? Shortly after learning that stat, this post from OnlyInBos appeared in my feed.  Walk like a penguin.  Yes, this is the same diagram The Farmer's Almanac uses as a winter life hack.

So, consider this your friendly reminder to walk like a penguin.  I've even included this handy dandy video with a real person, too.