I mean seriously, material science is amazing. There are so many "smart" textiles and padding options that have come out in the last couple of years. A few of my recent favorites are these impact protection materials that are pliable under normal conditions, but harden on impact, more successfully diffusing the force than plastic shells. Even more clever, the amount that they harden is based upon the forced used. So the harder you smack them, the harder they get.
There are a few brands of material currently in this arena. The ones I've made myself familiar with are d30, VPD by POC, and SaS-Tec. The premise of all of these materials are the same, and they have already been implemented in tons of products across a variety of sports. It's being used in gear for motorcyclists (and some of it is EU motorcycle safety certified), for motorcross, mountain biking, volleyball, skydiving, and bull riding. Yes, bull riding.
If you're still not convinced about how brilliant this stuff is, here are some more videos.
• Dropping an egg on d30
• Japanese man is repeatedly hit with a shovel
• Sas-Tec, impact test (Jump to 4:22 if you don't want to watch the guy be a weirdo)
This stuff is high on my list of of potential options for use in roller derby. Unfortunately, I haven't found a local source for ANY of these pads, and none of the existing applications of the stuff are probably appropriate out-of-the-box for roller derby. So if I want to use this, I'm going to have to rig something up myself or get something custom built.
A few of the knee pad options for other sports are:
• Sas-Tec O'Neal Sinners
• POC Joint Knee Pad
• SixSixOne EVO d30
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