If you are a keeper or your kid has gotten the itch to get in goal this is certainly one of the things that you’ll inevitably look into. Both training and games can be tough on a goalkeeper’s knees. You are going to have to bend and lower your knees when dealing with a low ball that is heading right towards you. Sometimes the motion has to be so fast that you find yourself deliberately striking the ground with your knees and that certainly can hurt. Do goalkeepers wear knee pads? Well, from personal experience, I can tell you I was always an enemy of knee pads. Growing up through the ones that were available I always felt limited a lot of my movements. My dad bought a pair for me, I used them once and never touched them again.
As I’ve aged I’ve found that harder surfaces are really rough on the knees. I have had a couple of scars here and there with potential injuries, and ultimately there was a point during my career where I did use some form of extra protection. For the most part, though, I am not a super fan of extra protection. What you are potentially looking for though, is something that protects but does not limit movement. Here are a couple of things that you can do to get extra protection on the knees and still feel like you have full movement.
Will Knee Pads Drastically Reduce The Chance of Injury?
If you look at data from a company that makes knee pads of course they are going to tell you that wearing them is the best thing in the world. What I wore at one point was a Nike product that you can still find out there. It’s basically a sleeve with padding on the knee cap area. The pain I was feeling concentrated on that area so it made sense.
The point I want to make with this is, that it’s practically impossible to reduce the injury risk to 100%. Most of the options out there are designed to press down on the knee area. Usually, with that tighter feeling, it gives you more security as a player. In goal impact on the knee can come from all angles. At the end of the day, you can’t wear bubble wrap on your knee to protect it from all angles. From the information that was gathered for this article, most medical experts agree that they may help with frontal impact and help feel more secure if you’re hurt. As far as actually being able to prevent injuries the results are not as good!
There Are Other Options Out There
Most pro goalkeepers don’t wear a knee brace or sleeve. That does not mean that they go out fully unprotected especially for practice. As a goalkeeper, there is probably a bigger chance to do some damage on your knees in practice than there is in a game. Just based on the number of times that you are going to be hitting the floor when you practice. Compared to the number of saves that you’ll usually be asked to do in a game. That’s why you see most pros wearing goalkeeper pants with different forms of padding. The loose goalkeeper pants with padding were the norm for basically all of the 2000s. The pants have gotten a lot tighter these days, and provide way better protection than they ever did for some of us growing up.
As a guy, I had a little trouble converting to the legging option. I was not used to wearing clothes that were that tight. I wasn’t because I thought leggings were strictly for girls or anything like that. These though, whether it be for training or for the pickup games I’m involved in these days leggings are my go-to. There are a couple of reasons for that. The leggings will keep the protections in place. As was mentioned before, the loose pants that we used to wear made the protections slide down to the point where they really didn’t protect what they were supposed to. Also with the leggings, you can use them under any outfit. I love to mix and match my gear and it was certainly great for me!
Using these clothes with protection has always been much more comfortable for me and from the looks of it 90% of the keepers that you can find in the professional game. When you are wearing these pants with protection that actually works, adding a knee brace, or sleeve or whatever you want to call it usually doesn’t make a lot of sense. I’ve seen people do it here and there. Usually what they’ll say is that they’ve had a previous injury on their knees hence, the brace. For the most part, the average keeper is going to do fine with these options.
Harder Turf Could Lead To A Higher Injury Risk
I think I can speak for pretty much any keeper out there when I say this, I hate turf fields! They are usually a lot harder to land on than regular grass. You are going to get burns from the turf. If you have a choice, special for a training ground I do believe that a turf field is never going to be the ideal option. You can use all of the knee protection that you want and even then falling can still hurt. There are always certain parts of your body that you just won’t be able to protect. I have scars right above both of my hips from turf and dirt fields.
If you are not used to playing in artificial turf that first dive that you take will be a rude awakening without a doubt. If you are playing and especially training on a hard surface whether it be turf or just very hard ground it can be a good idea to come prepared. I’ve seen pros even use knee pads only when they are playing on turf. I could answer the main question, “do goalkeepers wear knee pads?”, by saying yes on turf! I don’t want to make it feel like as an amateur you are limited to only following what pros do. The thing is, these guys are at it every day. They understand better than anyone the toll that the surface can have on their bodies. That’s why it’s always a good idea to at least take a peek at what they are doing.
Do Goalkeepers Wear Knee Pads: I Used A Knee Pad Or Goalkeeper Pants & Still Scraped My Knees
This is mostly something that I’m writing for parents. If you are a goalkeeper you are going to figure out relatively quickly that there are some risks involved in the job. Scrapping a knee and having bloody elbows is part of the deal. Especially, in some of these fields that are not up to the Premier League standards! If you are a parent of a goalkeeper and you are baffled by the fact that your kid keeps coming home with scratches and bruises no matter what extra protection you buy for them, here is the deal. You can use virtually anything that you want that does not mean that you are going to be immune to scratches and bruises. I am not saying extra padding can’t help, but it may not be the end bruising that you were hoping for.
The answer to why this happens is in something that was covered before. Your natural movements might move the padding ever so slightly at times. To the point where, when you go down on your knees you may not be as protected as you thought. When it comes to turf fields, I’ve had my knee scratched wearing pants, wearing leggings, a knee sleeve you name it. Again, extra padding can certainly limit the amount of damage if you will. Don’t expect this magical turnaround and quite frankly a pain-free life. Getting in goal, especially at higher levels of competition comes with a regular degree of pain that you are going to have to live through. This is something that I don’t see a lot of people talking about, so I thought I needed to put it out there.
Will Improving Technique Limit Injuries?
Of course, a big part of being “safe” in goal is knowing what you are doing. Training is a big part of staying safe. You are going to be essentially teaching your body how to react in certain situations. Many knee injuries in goalkeeping happen as a result of a player trying to make a reflex save throwing their bodies and knees onto the ground. The best thing that you can do is to train that reaction time and time again. That way in the moment of truth you are more likely to put your body in a position where it won’t get hurt. This is with and without knee pads.
You’ve probably heard the expression practice like you play. This not only goes for the intensity that you should be putting in during practice time. A lot of times for goalkeepers this is going to apply to the way that you dress to play. I know that’s not always the case. These days about 99.9% of the professionals will train in pants. Still, 80% of them play in shorts. That’s not a big deal, but if you want to incorporate a new pad to your outfit it would certainly be a good idea to practice with it. This is going to allow you to get used to the weight and the way that it could potentially move when you’re playing.
Should/ Do Goalkeepers Wear Knee Pads Or Not?
Before I give out the ultimate verdict, I just want to say that my response is coming from the side of a goalkeeping professional not a medical one. If you are not satisfied with some of the arguments that I give here, it would be a good idea to look to a medical professional to see what they say. As I mentioned before in my personal career I have gone both with and without a kneepad. Most of the time I’ve gone without knee pads. Here the thing, it’s all about fit and what’s more comfortable for you. If you are a parent and you’re worrying about your kid’s knees long term it would be a great idea to have them start using knee pads at a young age. It’ll become part of their gear and they’ll feel comfortable wearing them.
When you’ve been playing for some time it can be much more difficult to adjust to wearing anything else. Still, there is a chance that you could find a knee pad that just feels comfortable from day one and you can roll with it. It’s important to do some research and maybe try on some options to see which ones could potentially fit. Don’t do what my dad did and come into the house with some knee pads and expect your kids to wear them. That’s usually not going to work. If you’ve had an injury before by all means listen to medical advice before you listen to me!
In doing some research for this article I found that some folks categorically say that you should be wearing knee pads. A large number of pros all over the world for the past maybe 30 or more years have not worn knee pads and the amount of them that go down to ACL or related injuries is not that high. Don’t think that you have to force yourself to get with the times. If you feel comfortable the way that you’re playing I would say stick with that. When people ask you “Do goalkeepers wear knee pads?”, you can give them your own answer.
Do Goalkeepers Wear Knee Pads: No Knee Pads Does Not Equal No Knee Protection
As mentioned before, there are other options that you can look into to get knee protection without a knee brace, sleeve, or other option. We are going to be talking about why wearing goalkeeper pants over regular sweatpants is a better option in another article on the site. If you are going to be wearing just shorts, knee-high socks should be something that you contemplate to say at least I’m going to be wearing this as protection. I see a lot of girls with shorts that go way above the knee and no socks, or anything. All I can say to them is that they are tougher than I’ll ever be. That speaks to the point that has been made throughout the whole article. It’s all about what happens to fit you.
