(WTNH) If your weekend plans include shoveling, or better yet, something more fun like snowmobiling, proceed with caution. News 8 speaks with a trauma expert from Yale Medicine about what he has seen this winter.

The Connecticut Shoreline has already seen 43 inches of snow this winter season with 30 inches falling in February alone.

Whether youre taking advantage of the snow by doing something fun or just having to deal with it, pain and injury are common when performing a wintertime activity.

We reached out to Yale Medicine and Dr. Michael Leslie, Trauma Chief at Yale Medicine Orthopedics and Rehabilitation. He said with the isolation and stress caused by the pandemic, people arent easing into their winter activities.

Now we see a lot of people who are just looking for something to do. And maybe they havent skied for the last fifteen years and they just take a day and just want to do something. Or theyve never been on a snowmobile before, but, one of their friends or neighbors has one and they just want to get out. Its really quite traumatic when people get hurt in these ways.

Dr. Leslie said they have seen patients come in with an injury only to be diagnosed with COVID. Once they have the stress of the trauma on their body, and COVID, patients exhibit an acute inflammatory response and get much sicker than they might have otherwise, he said.

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Trauma expert from Yale Medicine says to take caution when heading outside this winter - WTNH.com