Should I wear shoulders for in house?

[dave from down low hockey 0]

I like my down low hockey shoulder pads for mens league. They don't limit my mobility at all. Since the shoulder caps velcro off I can take them off for the relaxed games and put them back on for the more competitive games.

[JohnnyBarDown 0]

I would say yes to shoulder pads, A good model would be the Sheerwood 5030's or the Bauer Classics. both are very light and have protective caps. Not really the best for shot blocking, but i doubt you'll be doing any of that.

[chilimax21 0]

+1 on CCM Fit 05 LE. Light and not bulky.

[Yinzer57 0]

Decent shoulders won't hinder your mobility. You should be wearing them.

I agree completely, some of my buddies in A leagues that do not wear them. Stupid macho crap in my opinion!

Decent shoulders won't hinder your mobility. You should be wearing them.

I agree completely, some of my buddies in A leagues that do not wear them. Stupid macho crap in my opinion!

[vaporboy12 0]

I play A league beer hockey and don't wear them. I should and know I should but I dont. I would say wear them. A lot of the people like to hack and whack you, instead of make the non lazy play lol. I am also the dumbass that will block shots in games lol, quickly got skate fenders lol

[nicksmission14 0]

Coming back from a seperated shoulder, I vote yes. Not fun at all.

[bagsbie 8]

wear them.

[xrickyb86x 1]

Coming back from a seperated shoulder, I vote yes. Not fun at all.

This. It sucks.

[17D1998 1]

I accidentally shot on my dumbass flashy teammate last season and he wasn't wearing shoulder pads. I didn't even feel bad about it. In fact seeing his face twisted in pain was kind of funny ahah. So yeah, I vote yes

[s_franchise 5]

Shoulders that actually FIT you should not in any means affect your mobility, theyre supposed to fit the body lol i vote always a yes to this esp with any gear good fit is what its all about

[ponder 0]

Shoulders that actually FIT you should not in any means affect your mobility, theyre supposed to fit the body lol i vote always a yes to this esp with any gear good fit is what its all about

Indeed, my shoulders are one of my least restrictive pieces of equipment, I really do not notice them at all once they're on. And it's not like they're high end or new either, they're just some Bauer Supreme 2000 shoulders that I've had for years. I've really never understood why some guys seem to hate shoulder pads so much - elbow pads I can see, but shoulder pads?

[Scoobersti 0]

I played in my first 2 seasons of beer league without shoulders and while I didn't really get hurt when I played without them. I figured that I should probably wear them for sternum and back protection, I wear shoulder pads every game now, mainly for the sternum and back protection.

[Neo5370 132]

Coming back from a seperated shoulder, I vote yes. Not fun at all.

Do shoulder pads prevent separated shoulders? I figure if an impact is hard enough to move a joint the wrong way, padding layered on top the area is not the same as wearing a brace. I just sort of assumed that shoulder pads were to protect against injuries more along the lines of bruises, contusions, cuts, puck impact, etc. The best analogy I can come up w/ is that you can still twist your knee regardless of how beefy your shinguards are. Same w/ elbows. Disclaimer: I have no proof or logic to back up my theories. :)

[nicksmission14 0]

Do shoulder pads prevent separated shoulders? I figure if an impact is hard enough to move a joint the wrong way, padding layered on top the area is not the same as wearing a brace. I just sort of assumed that shoulder pads were to protect against injuries more along the lines of bruises, contusions, cuts, puck impact, etc. The best analogy I can come up w/ is that you can still twist your knee regardless of how beefy your shinguards are. Same w/ elbows. Disclaimer: I have no proof or logic to back up my theories. :)

They help absorb impact which can certainly help prevent an injury like that. Heavy impact to the shoulder can cause some big damage. I suffered mine outside of Hockey, but it's painful and not worth the risk.. anything you can do to help prevent injury is well worth it. Not to mention taking a shot to the chest.

Sure you can still twist a knee even with shinguards, but you still where them outside of the obvious reasons (taking a puck) because they help absorb impact to the joint.

[jds 20]

See the thread entitled "beer league assault". My answer is yes!

[Neo5370 132]

Sure you can still twist a knee even with shinguards, but you still where them outside of the obvious reasons (taking a puck) because they help absorb impact to the joint.

True, however knees and shins are more prone to those sorts of "surface" injuries i.e. closer to the ice - pucks, sticks, shots, slashes, esp. in a non-check league. With that said, I do agree w/ you guys that an ounce of prevention is worth more than a ton of regret.

[danno25nh 3]

True, however knees and shins are more prone to those sorts of "surface" injuries i.e. closer to the ice - pucks, sticks, shots, slashes, esp. in a non-check league. With that said, I do agree w/ you guys that an ounce of prevention is worth more than a ton of regret.

Ton of regret being key. My wife and I were leaving for a tropical SCUBA vacation the day after I got hurt. I tried to explain to her that waiting for me to get out of surgery was just as fun as sitting on an airplane and the Percosete was almos as good as tequila on the beach.......

Luckily she knows me well enough that she purchased trip insurance ahead of time!

[hunterphfr 12]

I've seen 3 fractured clavicles in the last 7 or 8 years. Mens league, youngest was mid 20s oldest was 50 and the other one was in between. The two younger ones being relatively fit and decent sized individuals, not lightweights. None of them had shoulder pads on. None of them was a devastating hit, league's non-checking. They do let a little bumping and grinding happen though. One was caused by the ice, the other two were board related. A lot of guys that don't wear shoulder pads say shoulder pads wouldn't have helped. I have to think a little bit of padding would have helped absorb and distribute some of the impact away and prevented or decreased the severity of the injury.

[Neo5370 132]

I've seen 3 fractured clavicles in the last 7 or 8 years. Mens league, youngest was mid 20s oldest was 50 and the other one was in between. The two younger ones being relatively fit and decent sized individuals, not lightweights. None of them had shoulder pads on. None of them was a devastating hit, league's non-checking. They do let a little bumping and grinding happen though. One was caused by the ice, the other two were board related. A lot of guys that don't wear shoulder pads say shoulder pads wouldn't have helped. I have to think a little bit of padding would have helped absorb and distribute some of the impact away and prevented or decreased the severity of the injury.

From what I understand the clavicle bone is pretty fragile. My buddies and I were playing football outside, tackle no pads. One guy land awkwardly on another and we all heard a little pop. Broke his clavicle. The guy that got landed on was sort of forced "squeezed" between the hitter and ground. Best I could describe it is that it looked he he was forced to shrug more than one is supposed to be able to. I can't account for what happened to your friends, but I'm guessing in my friend's situation, the only way padding would have helped him is if it acted like some sort of brace that would prevent him from being squeezed.

[danno25nh 3]

From what I understand the clavicle bone is pretty fragile. My buddies and I were playing football outside, tackle no pads. One guy land awkwardly on another and we all heard a little pop. Broke his clavicle. The guy that got landed on was sort of forced "squeezed" between the hitter and ground. Best I could describe it is that it looked he he was forced to shrug more than one is supposed to be able to. I can't account for what happened to your friends, but I'm guessing in my friend's situation, the only way padding would have helped him is if it acted like some sort of brace that would prevent him from being squeezed.

Well this would depend on the mechanism of fracture. Pads essentially disperse energy. In the case of a hard pad like a shoulder cup the energy from a puck is distributed along the pad. Damage is mitigated.

In the case of an impact with a body, ice, or boards, the force is spread out across the shoulder but the total force is much much greater. The clavicle takes a good portion of the total force and may or may not survive intact.

If we have a method if dispersing the energy across more of the anatomy as would be the case in pads that spread the impact from one to another think football pads here, we potentially save the clavicle. Adding rotation of anatomy (twisting injury) changes the equation.

OK end of bio-medical engineering lesson.

In short a "brace" would prevent rotational injury. Hard plates like shoulder cups etc prevent or mitigate concentrated impact such as pucks and sticks and to a lesser degree boards and ice. Interlocking systems like some shoulder pads prevent impact injury of the type we see from high impacts with bodies and boards.

The tough point is deciding how much is enough without sacrificing mobility and comfort.

[NextBobbyOrr 0]

I`d go for something. If you really want to wear something less substantial, than I suggest you focus on protecting spine and collarbone. In regards to the clavicle, I`d agree that it`s pretty fragile..I hurt a part of it just this season(Can`t remember if it was the actual clavicle or the rotator cuff), it was killer. Shooting was a pain, any lifting and I couldn`t put weight on it if I slept. I was lucky that it àpparently wasn`t that serious. No break or tear, just a sprain.

[innotastic 12]

i like to think of things in extremes to demonstrate a point.

falling on a pillow is less painful than falling on concrete.

shoulder pads are more similar to pillows (generally) than concrete.

crude, but i think it illustrates the point.

[hunterphfr 12]

From what I understand the clavicle bone is pretty fragile. My buddies and I were playing football outside, tackle no pads. One guy land awkwardly on another and we all heard a little pop. Broke his clavicle. The guy that got landed on was sort of forced "squeezed" between the hitter and ground. Best I could describe it is that it looked he he was forced to shrug more than one is supposed to be able to. I can't account for what happened to your friends, but I'm guessing in my friend's situation, the only way padding would have helped him is if it acted like some sort of brace that would prevent him from being squeezed.

Absolutely the clavicle is pretty fragile. In fact in paramedic school they referred to it as one of the easiest bones to break in the body. Someone even referred to it as a safety valve breaking as a stress point to protect some of the much more complex structures such as the shoulder or sternum and breaking in such a manner as to minimize damage to internal organs. I had a teammate in university go to deliver a shoulder check in a lacrosse game and his collar bone held, but his entire shoulder completely destructed. That being said the three broken ones I saw (only one of which was a teammate) were not highlight reel hits. One guy got upended onto his head and shoulder, one guy got squeezed into the boards and the third two guys got tangled chasing a loose puck and crashed into the boards. Think of the number of absolute earthshaking hits delivered weekly in Junior, semi-pro, high school, NHL, midget and bantam hockey or football every week and the unintentional collisions in non-contact games. Something has to be absorbing, distributing, reducing and redirecting the force of impact.