Thursday, July 4, 2013

Sports Protective Wear For Safety

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 game in which the players are padded nearly from head to toe. It's also an illustration of the increased role of protective padding. Years ago hockey players didn't wear head or face protection. Even goalies used to wear nothing on their heads despite using their bodies to block a puck hurtling toward the net at incredibly high speeds. Nowadays, hockey players are much better protected, including high-tech goalie masks and helmets.

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 cases where one has already suffered an injury, extra equipment may be used. This can be the case when one is returning from an acute injury, such as wearing a brace or using tape on an ankle that was recently sprained. It is also common in instances where one has chronic problems, such at taping or using a brace on an ankle that is currently healthy but tends to suffer from sprains.

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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