JUNE, 1938

to bring the*felt firmly against the side
of the knee joint. Two pieces of one-
half inch tape are placed across the
four ends of the strap as anchors. This
bandage is removed after each game
and a fresh one is applied before every
scrimmage and game.

Knee Guards

To prevent injuries around the knee
joint, such as water on the knee, puffed
knees, etc., we cut out the usual knee
pads from the pants. Our pants are
now ordered from the manufacturer
without knee pads. In their place we
use a piece of felt about a foot square.
A “V” is cut on two opposite sides to
permit flexion of the knee joint. The
felt is then placed so that the “V’s”
are opposite the joint; the guard is ap-
plied with the knee bent.

During practice sessions, one-inch
elastics are used to hold this knee
guard in place. During scrimmages and
games, the felt is taped on. A startling
reduction in knee injuries resulted
from the use of this type of pad. Either
three-eighths inch or one-half inch
felt is satisfactory for this type of knee
guard.

Thighs

We have not experimented a great
deal in keeping down thigh injuries
but the few experiences we have had
convinced us that most “charley
horses” to the thighs can be prevented.
Most of these injuries are due to either
not having a large enough thigh guard,
or to the thigh guard moving around
too much and leaving some area unpro-
tected and exposed to injury.

We ordered several pairs of extra
large thigh guards for some boys, and
strapped these on directly to their
thighs. This type of protection not only
prevented further injury but enabled
several boys to play who already had
“charley horses.” Next year we intend
to follow the same plan for all our boys
and we also intend to get pants with-
out the thigh guards, preferring to at-
tach the thigh guards directly to the
boy’s leg. Some of the other schools
have also obtained good results with
this method. William Foley, coach of
the Bloomfield High state champions,
employs this method.

Hips, Kidneys and Ribs

We do not use the ordinary type of
hip pad which comes attached to the
pants. Instead we use separate block-
ing pads. However, these are not of
the standard type, and were specially
constructed for us so that the fiber ex-
tends about two inches farther all
around than they do in the standard
pad. Thus the lower ribs and kidneys
were given greater protection. The
manufacturer accommodated us in this
manner without any great additional

(Concluded on page 33)

Right: Knee Strap

The knee is flexed slightly while this modified
“Duke Simpson" bandage is being applied.
The enlarged ends of the "Il" shaped piece of
felt furnish lateral support to the knee joint.