Preventing cold weather related injuries

With temperatures dropping into the single digits later this week, dressing in layers is extremely important.

ABC 17 News talked to an emergency room doctor at Capital Region Medical Center who said every year they see about a handful of hypothermia cases every winter.

Hypothermia occurs when your body temperature drops below 95 degrees.

You can get several different cold weather related illnesses in frigid temperatures, including frost nip, where your body feels as though it’s tingling.

You can prevent long-term affects of that if you quickly cover up and get warm again. However, frostbite has more long term effects that affect mostly your hands and feet.

“It can be mild where it’s an injury to the outside tissue, but it can also be severe where it injures the ligaments and the bone underneath and typically you have long term injury from frostbite,” said Angela Clay, D.O., emergency room physician for Capital Region Medical Center.

Another thing to remember this time of year when you’re driving to visit family or going on road trips is to pack an extra blanket in your car.