Sports Protective Wear For Injury Prevention

By Lila Barry


Safety in sports has garnered more and more attention in recent years due to the increasing numbers of people participating and the need for injury prevention. Properly caring for and maintaining facilities and equipment is one method of ensuring safety while the enforcement of rules made for the protection of the participants is another. The most obvious example though, is the increased use of sports protective wear.

There is a wide range of types that can be used depending on the sport being played and the specific needs of the user. Some sports require certain protective gear to be worn due to the inherent dangers in those games. In other cases, players may elect to use additional items for protection.

A sport that uses an obviously large amount of protective padding is American football. Anyone playing this game must, by rule, wear a helmet, a face mask, a mouth guard and shoulder pads. In most cases hip, knee, thigh and tailbone pads will be required as well.

Ice hockey is another sport that necessitates the use of lots of protective wear due to its violent nature and the hard surface on which it's played. In the past, players did not wear helmets. Even goalies, whose main job is to get in the way of a high-speed object flying their way, did not wear anything for protecting their face or head. Nowadays though, all players are almost completely covered in padding, with the goalies in particular being well-protected.

Helmets are probably the most-used type of protective gear in sports, being seen in a wide variety of activities. This is due to the fact that suffering a head injury can have a tremendously negative effect on one's life and helmets can be effective ways of preventing this. In addition to American football and hockey, they are also standard in baseball, auto racing, cycling, horse riding, skiing and snowboarding among others.

The examples mentioned so far are rather obvious, but some are less apparent than these. One example is the rash guard used by surfers. One reason it is used is to provide protection from the sun while another is to prevent irritation of the skin from the board rubbing against it. One could also consider the leash that is worn on one leg and attached to the surfboard in this way as it prevents the board from getting loose and potentially hitting other surfers.

In addition to required equipment, bracing and taping is commonly used to protect an injured body part. If one is returning to action after recovering from a sprained ankle, this may be an option for preventing a recurrence. This is also the case with chronic injuries, for example using a brace or tape on one's ankle to prevent further sprains even when there are no current problems with it.

Naturally, different sports have different levels of injury risk and different parts of the body that are most in danger of being hurt. Whether one is trying to prevent an injury or to protect an already injured body part, sports protective wear can be very useful. Fortunately there are many high-quality options available to help one avoid serious injury.




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