Choosing Pads

When it comes to skateboarding, one of the last things to ever cross the mind of a young skateboarder is pads. Pads can be somewhat expensive, and many skateboarders don’t want to spend their money on pads. Most skaters don’t enjoy wearing pads, as they have always been seen as not cool. But, skateboarding pads are extremely important, just like a helmet. They protect your body and can prevent extremely serious injuries if you fall or crash when skateboarding. Whether you believe it or not, pads can unconsciously make you more comfortable when you skate, as you know you have some sort of protection if you do something wrong.

Choosing skateboarding pads is easy. Go to a local skate or sports shop and look around. But before you do, it’s important that you evaluate the type of skateboarding you do. If you just do simple things on your board, you may be okay with simple knee and elbow pads. If you’re more daring, you may want pads that are more protective and cost more. How aggressive you skate ultimately determines how much protection your body will need. The more aggressive and daring, the more padding you’ll want.

Knee and Elbow Protection

Your knees and elbows are the most common joints in your body that should be protected while you skateboard. Of course your head is the most vital to be protected, it’s also important that you protect these bodily joints. Imagine not having pads on and crashing and ultimately realizing you won’t be able to walk correctly the rest of your life because you severely injured your knee. Pads can protect you against extremely serious injuries.

Material

If you’ve ever used pads before, you probably think that all of them are made out of a hard plastic material. This hard plastic is one of the best that you could use in order to protect your body. The hard plastic is able to provide impact protection, as well as protection against abrasions. But, pads also come in less hard materials, such as a softer plastic or some form of Kevlar. Both of these don’t weigh as much, but they don’t provide as much protection either.

Shape and Size

You will want to purchase pads that offer the most coverage. Both knee and elbow pads for skateboarding will differ in size and shape. Sometimes you’ll get more above coverage and less below, or maybe the entire sides of your knees aren’t protected. This is your choice, but it’s a good idea to purchase the pads that offer the largest range of coverage.

Thickness

You will want the pads you choose to be thick in padding. Padding is important as it is able to take more of the impact so that your body isn’t left taking all of the force. But more padding also means that the pads will be heavier and thicker, and sometimes more expensive. Try to find pads that are padded, but not too much.

Color

Most pads are a boring black, but you can surely find ones that have cool designs. You can even try to find pads that match your helmet and board.