How to save your a$$.....

Why make them yourself?

I've tried the store bought kinds, crash pads, football type, azz pads, etc. I'm not sure if its me or if its because I'm a woman, but the football types go too high on me. My hips are much lower and my pelvis isnt as high. So the hip part would just end too high to cover my hips and would go into my ribs even. The crash pads I found were bulky, restrictive, EXPENSIVE, hot. The pads were in unnecessary areas and in others, they weren't sufficient with the foam alone. Mostly, I need something to cover the boney parts, my hips, tail bone and sit bone area. I rarely land on my tail or sit bones but those areas do hurt on the rare occassion I do. I do smack my hips though! So I wanted something where I could land on them hard and not get hurt.

I was told that people have fallen from 15-20 feet, landed directly on their hips with hockey hip pads on and walked away unscathed. So I wanted to investigate them. The plastic seems to be much more effective then foam alone I have discovered and doesn't require a lot of bulk.

I finally found a hockey girdle. They cost about $25 or so. The best pads out there I think! But like the football pads, the pads were not in the right places and they were too extreme for certain areas, restrictive, bulky. The hip pads in them are about an inch thick, but now I will never hurt my hips and can go at grinding without abandon. The rest are about 1/2 inch thick. There is also thick plastic in the tailbone part, much thicker then the pricey azz pads!

Step 1: cut out the pads

Cut out at the top where the inside pads connect at the waistm the tailbone pad and hip pads. It should look like this.

Place on a pair of compression shorts. If you have other places where there are bones or areas you would like to cover, cut pieces from the thigh of the hockey girdle. I cut some triangles for my sit bone area.

Step 2: sew them onto the compression shorts

I do the cut to fit method. Unorthodoxed but it ALWAYS works. I trimmed the front of the hockey hip pads since I found the foam up front restrictive for jumping and unnecesary. I found where my bones were, place the pads there starting with the tailbone one first, then I pinned them and sewed them on. I would check by placing the shorts on me to find out where the pads were going and if they were placed correctly. This may sound silly, but especially with the hip pads, sew the top part on, roll on the ground or do something of that nature to make sure they are in the exact right place. Since the plastic is cupped, if it is not centered properly, when you fall it will dig into your hip. Take this part sloooow. Get it right, if not you will have to take them off and recenter them. It pays off to get them perfect the first time around!

Step 3: go for it!

Reviews:

OK, these didn't work out. When you start doing bigger bowls or land doing lip tricks, you will dig the sides of the plastic into your thigh and can get a hematoma from it! OUCH!! Hockey stuff DOESN'T work! I redid these and used this foam. I made hip pads attached with velcro to shorts and sewed in pads for the sitbone and tailbone area. These are winners. :-D