When will you need hip pads? Oh, you'll know. It will be the day you limp off the ice and beg for an ice pack, or it will be the day your coach says you do, or it will be the day you wake up in so much pain that you have to take two Advil to get out of bed.
Let's start with the under tights pads.
Skating Safe produces gel pads.These pads are almost invisible, and you can probably get away wearing one during competitions and tests. If you're a guy, you'll have to wear compression shorts, or fit the pads under tights if you wear them. There is also a Skating Safe pad to protect the lower spine when learning jumps.
Waxel Pads are a brand of pads that appear to be made of some very thick foam rubber. Like Skating Safe pads, they are placed under the tights. They cost about half of the Skating Safe pad's price. I don't think they can be worn in competition or testing, the way the Skating Safe pads can. Waxel also makes a wrap around pad that appears to be unique.
The only disadvantage about these two kinds of pads is that some people feel awkward about sharing these pads between skaters, although they will clean off with soap and water. if you're creeped out by sharing, then there's the options of the padded shorts, of which there are many varieties. Some varieties can be worn over clothes, so you can share them between skaters.
There's so much variety, that I'll just point you to a few websites of online stores that sell these, and make a few comments.
Most padded shorts seem to try for neutral, but let's face it, they're designed for girls.
Here's a wide selection. And here's the booty short variation.
Something for someone who want to cover everything. Also, at the same site, if you scroll down to the bottom of this page you'll see a selection of Se-Ku padded shorts. One of these says it can be worn in competition.
Let's see you getting a guy into any of those padded shorts. So what do men and boys wear? It needs to be something....macho.
These appear to be roller derby shorts. Perhaps these would be popular with boys and men. You know, pick the right music and theme, I bet you could wear these as a 'costume' in competition. And here we have an even more macho selection. I don't know if these are flexible enough for jumping, but I mean, they look so mean and threatening. I could see Vladimir Putin being willing to wear these. You don't get much more macho than that.
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| Vear pads or I vill shoot you |
Have I missed anything? Hip pads are often used by people learning jumps, although many younger skaters don't want to wear them. Still given the variation available, there ought to be something that will suit all but the most finicky skater. And as an adult, wear them. A broken hip can destroy your life.
I'm working on my lutz, starting my axel and I wear black padded shorts at all times! I fall out of my flying camel, fall down on my back sit spin, still fall some basic jump combos (flip-loop, loop-loop, flip-loop-loop) and fall 60% of the time on my lutz, 100% of the time on my axel. Those shorts are just fantastic. I still have a bruise, but it's much smaller that my friend who's at the same level but doesn't wear padding.
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Do you feel they help you skate a little more aggressively? Does it help you ad vance faster?
ReplyDeleteI broke my hip wearing padded pants (left my skate guards on and fell directly on my hip). Not sure if the pants saved me from a worse injury (although I don't think there's worse than a displaced neckafemur), or whether the pants caused the weight to fall right into my hip and break it. On the bright side, maybe it was a rare thing and hasn't happened to anyone else. Might get a bone-density test done or something. I didn't get much bruising (maybe the pants helped with that). Point is, if you're going to break your hip, the pants may or may not stop it from happening.
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