If you are in the market for sparring/fighting gear for martial arts training,you should seriously consider spending the few extra dollars for a pair of shin protectors.They seem to be the last thing purchased by most students,and only after suffering a painful shin injury from bone on bone contact with an opponent.

Here's the scenario - your fighting away and everything is going fine.Then you see an opening for a nice round kick to the kidney.Just as your kick is about to make contact,your opponent throws a beautiful block,and the point of his/her elbow impacts your shinbone.You hear the sound like two blocks of wood hitting together,and the pain isn't too bad,most likely because of the excitement of the fight.

Later that day and especially the next morning you realize you got all of that elbow.As it happened to me,four days later my foot started turning purple and the lump on the front of my shin was huge.I was alarmed that maybe there could be a blood clot forming so I went right to my Dr.,good old Dr. Wilson who happens to have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and was very familiar with the injury.He had the same thing happen twice to him before he bought shin pads.The impact site on my shin had a lump for five to six months,pretty amazing.

By the way I did not have a blood clot,I was instructed to keep my leg elevated 6-8 hours a day for a week or so and no sparring for two weeks.I was told blood clots below the knee are rare but can happen.I hope someone benefits from this friendly advice.Keep your hands up and happy fighting!