Protective athletic equipment

A structure for protecting a body part or object from impact comprising:

• a larger compressive chamber with fluid inside and a valve to control said fluid, wherein said larger compressive chamber has a surface positioned to contact or approximately contact with said body part or object;
• a plurality of smaller compressive chambers or spring structures connected to said larger compressive chamber on a surface positioned away from said body part;
• and,
• a hard or yielding polymer shell connected to said larger compressive chamber, smaller compressive chambers or both.

A method for custom making structures to protect a body part from impact damage comprising the steps of:

• making a three-dimensional scanned digital image of said body part;
• storing said scanned body part image in a computer memory;
• using computer aided design (CAD) software to produce a design for a custom fitting protective structure from said stored scanned body part image;
• using said CAD produced design to manufacture said custom fitting protective structure with a three-dimensional printer.

A method for custom making structures to protect a body part from impact damage comprising the steps of:

• making a three-dimensional scanned digital image of said body part;
• storing said scanned body part image in a computer memory;
• using computer aided design (CAD) software to produce a design for a custom fitting protective structure from said stored scanned body part image, wherein said custom fitting protective structure includes a larger compressive chamber, a plurality of smaller compressive chambers and a hard or yielding polymer shell;
• using said CAD produced design to manufacture said custom fitting protective structure with a three-dimensional printer.