Have there been more shoulder injuries since these tiny
Dec 10, 2015, 8:39 PM
shoulder pads started being used? I know they must be engineered to protect but I don't remember this many shoulder and collarbone injuries in the past. They look ridiculously small on offensive lineman.
Re: Have there been more shoulder injuries since these tiny
Dec 10, 2015, 10:04 PM
I have always been leery of "improvements" - particulary in the area of shoulder pads. My football career was ended a long time ago by the use of the latest shoulder pads made of hard foam rubber, which the head coach gave to three if us (all skill players). I was a TE in a single wing offense, which position called for a lot of head-on blocking of MLBs on power sweeps. I had never had a problem cut-blocking those MLBs until the night I used the new "improved" pads, which supposedly allowed better range of motion, which they certainly did. However; after 8 minor shoulder separations in that game which either the coaches or players in the huddle yanked back into place for ne, I reached for a high pass on a TE out route and watched my left arm drop uselessky to my side and the ball go out of bounds uncaught. The top of my upper arm bone now located about midway down my rib cage. According to the emergency room orthopedist, it was the worst shoulder separation he had ever seen.
As a result, if I was a coach, I would never ask any player to wear anything experimental until others had proved it OK.