One of the most unglamorous sounding items in the field of sports training equipment has to be the sports supports
. Unglamorous as they may be, they can at times be vital for both guarding against injuries and protecting existing ones from getting worse.
Sports supports come in all shapes and sizes but let's have a quick look through the basic ones and see what they do.
Starting at the bottom, the ankle support helps to keep an ankle firm and helps to stop it twisting badly. Ankle injuries are one of the most common sporting injuries and a bad sprain can keep an athlete out for a long time and cause problems in the future too.
Knee supports protect against both twisting and the shock of falling on the knee or being hit. For many athletes the knees are one of the most vital things to protect.
Talking of protecting vital things... Compression shorts both keep a male's genitals in place to stop them being bashed and at the same time help prevent chaffing on the thighs. They also help to keep the muscles warm to prevent muscle strain and fatigue. Individual thigh supports are also available for this latter purpose.
The elbow support, like the knee support helps to protect the elbow from nasty shocks and hits but also protects the joints somewhat.
The wrist support is useful in both stopping extended movement of the wrist which may well cause the wrist to be sprained and, if there is already a pre-existing wrist injury it will stop it getting any further damage.
Finally, there are various supports available for various fingers which can protect existing injuries by stopping the fingers from moving or protect fingers from being pulled out of place too much.
Sports supports may not seem to be important sports training equipment at all, but without them, a lot of sports people may not be able to train at all.