Soft protection, will not protect from hard impacts!
Bought these to wear after breaking (hairline fracture) my leg. Wanted some support and protection while healing. First the padding is medium density, about 1" thick and is fine if you bump things lightly, but if I had walked into, say, my trailer hitch (to which I'm prone), I'd have been in big pain. I'm 6' 2" and have (ex) dancers legs and they fit from ankle to knee cap. The elastic was probably not tight enough to be therapeutic to the bone healing, but it was noticeably firm and I think helped with circulation and limiting swelling. Threw them in the wash a couple of times and saw no adverse effect. Were most helpful when, after healing a few weeks, I needed to kneel on the floor and they protected my tibia from direct contact with the tile.
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