Do pads improve safety?

cavedave

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=494
It seems that using pads makes you kick/punch harder/wilder and so safety is not increased. I have heard a similar explanation that heavy boxing gloves do not really protect the fighter. Any opionions on this? What downsides are there to the a piece of safety kit your currently using?

Roper

I think it's a flawed article. It doesn't actually give any examples or staistics regarding the injury rate in either class and it fails to take into account training methods, safety of the class. In fact, I think the author took a psychological principle and grafted it onto an example that doesn't fit.

I definitely hit harder with hand wrap and mitts then I do bare knuckle, but then I'm definitely more likely to break my wrist bare knuckle than in hand wrap and mitts, regardless of what power I'm hitting at.

Baggio...

It's interesting all the same. I have heard about this concept before. Again, as Roper says it's hard to prove either way.

walshb

The mitts and wraps basically give you that little bit more confidence to really unload, as your hand a wrist are cushioned, thus giving you a better chance to stay injury free on impact. As for the receiver of punches, I'm sure he/she would prefer there to be a mitt hitting them rather than pure bare knuckle.

Roper

Not with your punches

cavedave

The mitts and wraps basically give you that little bit more confidence to really unload, as your hand a wrist are cushioned, thus giving you a better chance to stay injury free on impact. As for the receiver of punches, I'm sure he/she would prefer there to be a mitt hitting them rather than pure bare knuckle.

Thats the theory, but do they actually work? If wraps mean your less likely to injure your wrist with a full power punch but you would not be doing a full power punch without wraps the claim seems specious.

I think my question may be misunderstood. If the answer to "does protective gear really make you safer?" is something like "yeah using it i can really flail around and go full on" then the answer is probably no.
David

TapouT

Ken Shamrock deals with protection, ie gloves and headgear, in his book 'The Lions Den'. He makes the case, with some medical backup (as far as I can remember) that heavy gloves and head gear cause more internal injuries in the way of brain damage etc than light MMA gloves (or bare knuckles) and no head guards because a fight is more likely going to be stopped for superficial injuries before the real damage is caused to the brain (which is unseen until the damage is too late and irreversable).

Roper

Not too good for training though!

TapouT

Roper wrote:

Not too good for training though!

Ok I'll qualify that by saying he's talking about in the arena.

Roper

Yeah, I'd broadly agree with that. Though boxing matches would be one round long if that was the case. Boxers are looking after themselves better these days though, wouldn't you agree? Less fights per year, better medical standards and practises, better (for the most part) refereeing.

Just to answer the second part of the original post, I think foot pads are a bit bogey. As in I think the cons of them outweigh the pros. Kick with your toes with a foot pad on to someones body and you hurt their body, take the pad off and you hurt your toes. I caught a guys knee with my toes on Sunday and it frickin hurts today let me tell ya!

Shin and instep pads are adequate except if you use your heel a lot.

Dragan

I agree with Roper, it's a flawed article.

It's not saying anything about pads effectivness at reducing injury, only the likelihood of the protection they offer leading you to go heavier.

I've recently gotten back into sparring properly, but i can say the reason we where pads ( if we do where any ) is specifically so that we can really open up and go for it.

It's really just the author trying to overcomplicate what is comon sense.