Contact Sports

shirt in the ads

by Tracey_E - 2020-07-13 22:45:26

The advertiser on this site that makes protective shirts is great for contact sports. It's a tight fitting shirt with a cup that makes a dome over the pacer. Paceguard is a similar company owned by one of the members here. I've seen those in person, they are extremely well made. 

Contact sports aren't recommended, but there are some who play them anyway. It's all what you're willing to live with. I've taken several really hard hits to my pacer over the years. Not from sports, from toddler feet and a dog tripping me and the worst was when I caught the edge scaling a wall during a Spartan race. But I got over the wall lol. Bruised me up and hurt like heck, but the pacer was fine. The pacers are titanium, much more durable than we are.

I tend to push the limits overall. That's my choice and my doctor encourages me to be active and not let the pacer limit me. In 25+ years paced, I've never had a problem. I asked my doctor what would happen if I busted a lead. He shrugged and said we'd fix it, but followed up that he didn't expect that to happen. I deliberately chose a doctor who specializes in adult congenital so he sees a lot of patients like me who are paced for a lifetime. I figure he has a better idea of the real risks than my old (and beloved!) cardiologist who didn't have anyone else like me so any advice he gave me was his best guess or from research. There arent a lot of very active patients who have been paced a long time, there have been no studies so there are no guidelines which means advice we get as to what's safe varies widely.  

always risk

by dwelch - 2020-07-14 12:14:50

there is always risk when I was younger and more active lots of vert ramp skating which means dozens of hard falls per day.  Have taken a couple of hard hits right on the device (not skating but other activities), 33 and 26 year old leads still doing fine.  I suspect you hit it just wrong, even just stubbing your toe in your house and then hitting something as you stumble could break a lead.  in general you wont hurt the device it is harder than you are so you would have to sustain some good damage to transfer through you the force to damage the device.  

I have not tried the pads in the ad, but that is the right idea. 

I have not done sports like football, rugby, basketball, soccer, etc that would have direct impact on some sort of regular or periodic basis.  There are some hockey players here that asked and maybe they have had success.  

There is upper chest protection vests for motocross, football, etc that could/would be a good start, create a void over the device and use the plastic to bridge that, and a ring of protection in a way that the force is distributed on the chest and edge of shoulder, etc.  Might put your collarbone at higher risk than it already is though.   For backpackers but perhaps in general something like a hans device as a starting point that does the same kind of thing, the hans device relies on the seat belts being tight and creating the base for the head and neck restraint, and a backpack would hold something like that down too, some sort of over the shoulder thing that creates a bridge to keep any force off the device.  for contact sports some sort of over the shoulder thing might help to keep it firmly in place.    

The advertised solution shirts might already be tight fitting enough, if not then if that armor slips and an edge is over the device then it is significantly worse than not having the armor.

With the ease at creating these materials and products I think its time that someone can do more in this area.   or the advertised one may work great YMMV.   Let us know.

Short answer I didnt restrict myself, I took some hard hits and walked away, but that could have been dumb luck.  The devices are harder than you are the leads are firmly screwed in, there are likely weak points but it would take a good hit in the right place.  The solution would be armor that covers the device and sreads the force to your body inches away ideally in all direactions.  some sports may not have a solution.