Most of the time when we scratch, it's on our hands. Each of us has experienced it before, walking down a corridor or around a wall, tripping and scraping our hand. When we trip and fall, we also put our hands under ourselves, and the elbows usually take the brunt of it. If only there was something to protect them. After all, we don't want to have them scratched every day, it's uncomfortable and painful. So what could we put on them? How about elbow pads? Sounds good, right? Just to know how to choose and what we have available. Let's talk about it.
What is it and where does it belong?
Elbow pads were invented for the purposes we described above. In short, so that we do not unnecessarily injure ourselves in these places. They quickly spread to all sports, but especially to the military and police sectors. Generally speaking – to the sector of the armed forces and the rescue system. This is a very well-thought-out piece of equipment that can be divided into two main groups. The first of these are external protectors, which can be worn over clothing, but also on the bare body. The second group is internal protectors. We will talk about the more precise difference and their advantages right away.
External and safer
The external padsr are placed directly on the hands. Therefore we can put them both on bare skin when we have short sleeves and over a blouse or jacket. Their fastening is well thought out - it consists of two fastening straps. They can be either fixed or non-adjustable. In this case, we are talking about the universal size, which is guaranteed through elastic gussets. Unfortunately, if we have very large hands or, conversely, a bit like twigs from a tree, we could have some problems with this system. That's why it pays to buy adjustable straps. They are also elastic, but we can adjust the length of the fastening straps. What might be interesting is the overall design of the pad itself. It consists of several layers. The first layer (if we go from the outside to the inside) is a hard plastic protector, which is supposed to absorb the biggest impacts and possible mechanical damage. This protector is usually riveted to the main body, which is made of strong nylon (preferably 600D and higher). This part is a little larger and covers the entire surface of the elbow. Inside we find an anti-shock layer in the form of padding that absorbs shocks. The last part is the non-slip finish that fixes the protector in place. Now we come to the second version of protectors.
Internal and more comfortable
Internal protectors have the advantage of being placed directly in a special pocket on the upper part of the clothing. This way they are fixed and usually don't move. Their disadvantage is the absence of a hard layer, which makes them more like shock absorbers. A typical material is neoprene, or a combination of nylon and padding. Of course, those that have a hard layer are also produced. However, there are few of them, they are significantly more expensive and, similarly to knee pads, we must have an adequate upper part of clothing for them.
It's simple
Overall, it's just a matter of what suits us and if we have somewhere to put the insert protector. Otherwise, let's choose according to the quality of the material and the overall processing of the protector. The hard part must be well riveted to the nylon part. At the same time, we must pay attention to the anti-slip layer with good fixing elements.