Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Decisions, decisions...

My last few outings to the rink have been fought with a number of "crash and burn" incidents.  Some of the falls have been minor annoyances but others have left their marks.  No new broken bones (yet) but some mornings, apres-skating, find your old diarist feeling every bit his age.  Most of the falls have come from biffed jump landings but one particularly nasty fall was the result of clicking blades together while doing alternating back crossovers down the long axis of the rink at speed.  All this has your diarist searching the archived posts on the skating forum for hip, knee, and tailbone crash pad recommendations.  It appears the best choices fall (haha) between Skating Safe's "Ultracrash" gel pad technology and the D3O pads marketed by Se_Ku.

Ultracrash pads seem to use the same gel technology that one sees with Silopad ankle protectorsD3O appears to be sterner stuff with typical applications being bullet proof vests for law enforcement officers, protective gear for moto-cross riders, etc.  One of the drawbacks for male skaters attempting to use Ultracrash pads is that we generally don't wear tights and tights are important for holding the pads in place.

Ultracrash pads must be correctly placed and once positioned must be held in place for maximum protection.


Female skaters rely on tights to  keep the pads from moving.

The D3O pads on the other hand are available both as separate pads like the Ultracrash products or sewn into a pair of shorts.  Se_Ku lists men's extreme training shorts that have D3O pads sewn in to protect both sides of the hip trochanter region and a separate butt pad for protection of the coccyx..

Se_Ku's training shorts for men.
Neither product line is inexpensive (the training shorts are $205!) but both are cheaper than a hip replacement.  Both companies also offer knee pads at eye watering prices.  But, again, compared to the cost of a preventable injury they've got to be worth it.  So don't be too surprised if you see an old male geezer skater who looks like he's got a butt the size of a Metro bus .  This may not be the chicest look to go out on the rink but it has to be better than stuffing vast quantities of bubble-wrap down my shorts--and much better than an injury.  Does anyone have any other ideas or feedback on these products?

11 comments:

  1. I'm a female and use the hip pad from Skating Safe. I don't wear skating tights, just leggings. My leggings hold the pad in place.

    If you wear something like Under Armour leggings, that will work the same as tights. One of the men at our rink wears them under his track pants for warmth.

    Of course, if you are in an overly warm rink, it doesn't help. You could just use a pair of non-padded bike shorts under your skating attire.

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    1. Thanks for the input Jessim. How do those Skating Safe pads work out for you during falls? Do you know anyone using the d30 pads?

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  2. I have a friend who sells the D3O line- I have not tried it yet but it is nice because it is super thin (6mm!). Also, the way it works (he has an sample of the raw stuff) is it flexes as you skate, but when you fall it becomes rigid and distributes the force over the whole area. Plus it is made in the US!

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  3. I have a friend who sells the D3O line- I have not tried it yet but it is nice because it is super thin (6mm!). Also, the way it works (he has an sample of the raw stuff) is it flexes as you skate, but when you fall it becomes rigid and distributes the force over the whole area. Plus it is made in the US!

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  4. Thanks Laivine. Let me know when you actually start skating with D30 pads. There are lots of people using Ultracrash products but very little feedback on D3O.

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  5. I will let you know when either I or one of my friends start using them (the local guy only started selling them about a month ago). And I am not sure why blogger posted my response twice....

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    1. Blogger does that double entry thing at random times. I have no idea why--probably just to annoy peeps. Anyway, I look forward to your report on d3o's performance during actual skating falls--don't break anything!

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  6. I used snowboard shorts after my hip surgeries. Padding protects hips and tailbone and the shorts were about $50 at REI. They have men's and women's sizes.

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  7. Thanks Terri, I'll check them out. How was the trip to Spain? I keep waiting for an update re: the treking poles.

    Happy Holidays,
    George

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  8. Hi George. I use the skating safe knee pads. They sell a retention sleeve to go over it and keep it in place, I use that instead of tights. They are way better than nothing and I use them all the time. I have found, though, that it is still possible to bruise a little bit right through them or just above or below them (skills!).

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  9. Hi Mary: Since I posted this back in 2012 I've bought two different sets of knee pads. Both have d3o padding which I've come to really appreciate! D3O, at least in my experience, really does live up to its claims. One pair was from Seku and the other pair was from a local sailing shop. Both give good protection. The ones from the dinghy racing shop actually fit better and stay in place more reliably than the ones from Seku. However the ones from Annapolis Performance Sailing (made by Musto) are bulkier. Recently, a member of the skating forum mentioned that she liked these from the dance supplier Capezio:

    http://www.amazon.com/Capezio-Unisex-Comfort-Dance-BEIGE/dp/B0079MHCCQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401888797&sr=8-1&keywords=bunheads+knee

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