Protective padding is commonly used in many sporting activities to prevent impact related injuries. In rugby, shoulder pads absorb and disperse the force and energy of an impact with a playing surface or another player. Although the majority of the commercial shoulder pads currently available can reduce the impact force during a front-on tackle, they provide limited amount of thermal comfort to the wearer. In this research, flexible textile structures were designed and investigated for their potential to effectively dissipate the force of impact over a wider area, thus reducing the risk of injury. The impact resistance of these textile structures placed over a body simulant was compared against commercial foam pads using a’ drop test’ method. The results indicated that all the flexible textile structures reduced the impact force. Although their protection level was not as high as the commercial foam, the textile structures showed a higher level of thermal comfort as measured by air permeability, thermal resistance and water vapor resistance. The results were analyzed using oneway ANOVA followed by post-hoc analysis using IBM SPSS software. The Post-hoc analysis showed a significant difference among the test results of various fabrics for impact absorption, air permeability, thermal resistance and water vapor resistance, which are also discussed in this paper.

保护垫通常用于许多体育活动中，以防止因撞击而受伤。在橄榄球中，护肩吸收并分散与比赛表面或其他球员撞击的力和能量。尽管当前可用的大多数商用肩垫可以减小前滑过程中的冲击力，但它们为穿戴者提供了有限的热舒适度。在这项研究中，设计并研究了柔性纺织结构的潜力，以有效地消散冲击力，从而减小了受伤的风险。使用“跌落测试”方法将放置在人体模拟物上的这些纺织品结构的耐冲击性与商用泡沫垫进行了比较。结果表明，所有柔性织物结构均降低了冲击力。尽管它们的防护等级不如市售泡沫高，但通过透气性，耐热性和耐水蒸气性测量，纺织品结构显示出更高的热舒适性。使用单向ANOVA分析结果，然后使用IBM SPSS软件进行事后分析。事后分析显示，在各种织物的冲击吸收，透气性，耐热性和耐水蒸气性的测试结果之间存在显着差异，本文也对此进行了讨论。