Has anyone been saved from serious injury wearing shoulder pads xc

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minimex2

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Has anyone been saved from a serious injury by wearing shoulder pads whilst xc?

Daughter has racesafe body protector and was thinking about buying her the shoulder pads which (as per racesafe say they have saved collar bone injuries).

She thinks im over the top........ but as a mum i think of the worst and see it as my job providing her with the best protection.

She's 14 and has a new 15hh irish cross horse. So jumps are going to be bigger, and he's going to be faster.......

Either i a) wrap her up in cotton wool, b) dont let her do xc or c) buy shoulder pads.

But dont want to waste money if people have worn and still had nasty collar bone accidents.

thanks x
 
If you want to buy them, buy them. You can never know if they saved you or not from an injury unless you recreate the fall exactly without the equipment...

My sister wears them with her racesafe BP. She has had a serious collarbone injury without wearing them but the shoulder pads wouldn't have stopped this. It may have made it less so, but not stopped it. She wears them as a extra bit of protection following this event as she ended up having 2 operations and wasting a lot of time with recuperation periods! She wears them for peace of mind really with the paranoia that the newly mended cb will break more easily!

They're easy to put on, don't bother you or rub or even move, and you can get them in pretty colours. Most kids wear them it seems, as a XC fashion statement!
 
As soon as she goes to a pony club rally and is the only one without shoulders she will want them, ;)

personally they have saved a few scratches out hunting from branches! but then I'm on a 17hh horse,,,
 
I always wear one as its got a medical card holder. I find it much easier that trying to put one of those elastic things one. Also dont notice them at all when wearing them.
 
I have a BP with inbuilt shoulders. The only time I've tested it in earnest was actually SJ though, when I accidantally dove head first through an oxer minus horse... I doubt I'd have broken a collarbone, but going by the colour of all my non-BP-covered parts, I saved them a fair battering!
At my age (over 40) I am extremely grateful to have been wearing it, when I was 15 I'd probably have bounced back up laughing...
 
The problem with shoulder fractures - I type with one hand cus mine's broken at the moment :) - is that they're often "crumple zone" injuries caused by the weight of the body landing on one point, so most may not be prevented by BP shoulder pieces. Equally, every injury is different so they may well help lessen injuries if she, for example, falls onto something solid. And when you're injured you don't get an aggregate of "most" injuries, you get one injury which may well be one of the preventable ones if you know what I mean (ie averages are pointless when it's just you and your injury!)

I'd say that she may not be worried about the pain of breaking something (teenage invincibility!) but if she understands it may be the difference between having to miss a season versus being able to go out and compete with all her friends, that may be more convincing.

And (look away from this bit, it's meant to convince her it's worth it, not to freak you out about her hurting herself!) while she might recover from a broken rib or a fractured forearm to be back on board within 2 to 6 weeks, shoulders are often complicated breaks and she could be looking at between 3 months and 6 months out of the saddle, and proper strength taking up to 12 months to return. This would really irritating if she did it, for example, right at the beginning of the season like I have arrrrgh!

I'd find that more of an incentive than general concern about me hurting myself.


Or as said above, let peer pressure do the job for you!
 
philamena said:
I'd say that she may not be worried about the pain of breaking something (teenage invincibility!) but if she understands it may be the difference between having to miss a season versus being able to go out and compete with all her friends, that may be more convincing.

And (look away from this bit, it's meant to convince her it's worth it, not to freak you out about her hurting herself!) while she might recover from a broken rib or a fractured forearm to be back on board within 2 to 6 weeks, shoulders are often complicated breaks and she could be looking at between 3 months and 6 months out of the saddle, and proper strength taking up to 12 months to return. This would really irritating if she did it, for example, right at the beginning of the season like I have arrrrgh!

I'd find that more of an incentive than general concern about me hurting myself.
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This! If it's more convincing she needs, my sister broke her collarbone is 2009.

She was meant to have 8 weeks total rest (over the entire summer holiday!) but didn't. But then had ongoing pain and problems until the summer the next year where they decided to operate. Which resulted in another 6 weeks off totally (summer 2010). And then she had the plate removed Jan 2012, and another 6 weeks off (hunting season). She now has an impressive scar (to the point the PC kids know her as "Alice with the scar"!).

Whilst shoulder pads wouldn't have prevented the break (near rotational, she was speared into the ground shoulder first by the full weight of her pony!) it would have helped rather a lot with absorbing the impact!
 
Bought daughter shoulder pads many years ago but they didn't stop her breaking her collarbone which still causes pain issues as wasn't set properly. She won't have it redone as would mean time off work etc. now.

I bought her an air jacket when they came out which I think is much better than any shoulder pads - broken collar bones/shoulders are less of a worry than a broken neck imo.
 
thanks all, just to add noone from her club wears them (if they did would be easier to convince her and as some of you say follow the others). So with her being the only one makes it harder for me!
 
I just look at it this way (I'm 16 so around the same age as your daughter), I need all the safety equipment I can get my hands on. I've got a big horse (he's 17.2hh) and is quite unpredictable and quirky. My mother bought me a BP with shoulder pads, simply because they are comfortable (I forget I'm wearing them) and they can only help with absorbing the impact of a fall- granted they might not save you from breaking something but they will sure go a little way to limiting the damage. I don't know many people that don't wear them to be honest, unless it's a KAN BP. If you want her to wear them, buy them for her... she'll feel guilty if you've spent the money on her and she doesn't use them. I also have a Point Two air jacket which really does make me feel secure and as somebody said above, would go a little further in providing protection against shoulder injuries and the like. I can't believe she is the only one who wears them in the PC! Who's her favourite rider? Because most of the pros wear shoulder pads! Mark King would be a perfect example in my eyes! :D I also love the fact the medical armband is there, means I cannot forget it!
 
Agree with a lot of others, that they won't stop a break but they may help lessen it. If she isn't that keen on wearing them but you want her to, another option maybe a tshirt which has them built in, (tree house used to sell them and I think they still do). I wear a tshirt under my hunting jacket and you wouldn't know that I am and also will wear them xc, I also have a rugby tshirt for the same purpose, allthough would say that it isn't quite as protective. Like a lot of others I wear them to help protect an allready broken collar bone, which is also now shorter on one side than the other, I had a near rotational and landed on my point of shoulder, at the time I wasn't wearing them, well I didn't have them. But as they had to take of the chip of bone and I may of started hunting again, slightly earlier than I should off, I decided to wear them at the time partly to protect a still healing scar against branches etc, but it has now become 2nd nature unless I have lost them, have also had a rotational in the rugby shirt type one, which apprently looked horrific and like I should if broken my neck, but I got straight up, I do believe the shirt and soft ground helped, and I wasn't even that sore the next day. :)
 
Eventer96 said:
If you want her to wear them, buy them for her... she'll feel guilty if you've spent the money on her and she doesn't use them.
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She'll accidently on purpose forget to put them in bag! - You can prob gather what im like and dont really like watching her do xc or anything fast so Dad takes her and i get text messages every 10 mins letting me know how she's doing.
 
minimex2 said:
She'll accidently on purpose forget to put them in bag! - You can prob gather what im like and dont really like watching her do xc or anything fast so Dad takes her and i get text messages every 10 mins letting me know how she's doing.
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Mine are always attached to my body protector, so I can't forget them.:rolleyes:
 
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