BODY, SHOULDER, AND GROIN ARMOR: Because bruised ribs take weeks to heal.

Today's study in SCA heavy weapons combat gear is torso and groin protection. See page 13, section E. at the link.

I'm not doing too, too many pictures today because I need to finish this before my first client and after that client, if I have no other client, will be dedicated to my NaNo writing.

Body, Shoulder, and Groin Armor:
1. The kidney area and the floating ribs shall be covered with a minimum of heavy leather worn over .25 inch (6 mm) of closed-cell foam or equivalent padding.


Torso injuries will fuck you up. I've had a rib injury, a good knee blow to the left floating ribs dug up underneath and it took a week and a half at least to move without stabbing pain. I couldn't sneeze properly. It hurt to take a deep breath. Pleurisy, an infection of the lining of the lungs, can be a complication of broken ribs. My husband thinks I had a broken rib. I do not, I think it was only a bruised rib. It didn't hurt that much...well, as much as I surmise a truly broken rib would hurt...and it was mostly healed in three weeks. Okay, maybe four weeks. I was pissed I didn't get a visible bruise though, for as much as it did hurt.

Kidney belt: Windrose Armoury

Okay, enough about my bruised rib. There's also kidney damage to consider. Kidney injury can cause kidney failure. Left untreated you may have permanent kidney failure, which means life-long dialysis or kidney transplant.

All for want of a kidney belt. I think $200 is cheap when you consider the alternative of a lifetime of disability or possible death.

At this point I will I have read about the less expensive ways to make this protection. I like this one, so it's the one I'm talking about today.

There are also full torso protection items like combination steel back and breast plates, called a cuirass. There's a coat of plates or a brigandine, which are both leather garment with steel plates riveted on. They differ in the the size of the steel plates.

There's also lamellar armor, small leather plates laced together. I like this one particularly, just because I like the look but also because it's much closer the the period of my persona which is eighth or ninth century Norse, if you're just tuning in. I just now found this amazing resource for plastic lamellar plates and they have a suit builder, plug in your measurements and go and you can even set it for female measurements, WOW I AM NOW SUPER STOKED! I would prefer leather but this is a very nice alternative. A gambeson would be needed IMO, a sort of padded coat.

An example of lamellar body armour.
Skaldic.com

2. For men, the groin must be covered by a minimum of a rigid athletic cup (e.g., an ice hockey, soccer, karate, or baseball cup) worn in a supporter or fighting garment designed to hold the cup in place, or equivalent armor.

Haven't most of you gentleman worn a cup? Did they make you wear one in high school gym class? I'm sure you probably have your own resources for figuring that stuff out.

3. For women, groin protection of closed-cell foam or heavy leather or the equivalent is required to cover the pubic bone area. The wearing of a male athletic cup by female fighters is prohibited.

It was recommended to me by a young lady who knows what she's talking about to use the women's hockey shorts. I got the compression shorts which I find quite comfortable, but you can also get them in a loose boxer style.





4. Separate breast cups are prohibited unless connected by or mounted on an interconnecting rigid piece, for example, a heavy leather or metal breastplate.

It is my understanding that this rule is made because the separate breast cups can break apart, dig into your chest, and cause serious injury. That's just stupid. Don't do that.

Well, despite the inclusion of "shoulder" in the regulation heading, there was no explicit instruction for pauldrons or spaulders. As I have only six minutes left until my client gets here, we'll save that for another time.