Headgear is padded helmet worn during sparring in the martial arts.

Boxing

Headgear is a padded helmet, worn on the head by contestants in Amateur and Olympic boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

. It effectively protects against cuts, scrapes, and swelling, but does not protect very well against concussions. It will not protect the brain from the jarring that occurs when the head is struck. Also, most boxers aim for the chin on opponents, and the chin is usually not protected by headgear.

There are different types of boxing headgear available. Some headgear is open-faced. This is the style normally used in amateur boxing competitions. Unlike open-faced headger, training headgear covers the cheek. "Face-saver" headgear features a pad across the face so that no direct contact is made to the face. As the amount of padding in headgear is increased, visibility is reduced.

Wrestling

Wrestling headgear is designed to protect the ears

Cauliflower ear

Cauliflower ear is a condition that occurs when the external portion of the ear suffers a blow, blood clot or other collection of fluid under the perichondrium...

 from damage. It features either soft or hard plastic ear covers and straps around the chin and back of the head. It is commonly used in grappling sports such as Amateur wrestling

Amateur wrestling

Amateur wrestling is the most widespread form of sport wrestling. There are two international wrestling styles performed in the Olympic Games under the supervision of FILA : Greco-Roman and freestyle. Freestyle is possibly derived from the English Lancashire style...

, Submission wrestling

Submission wrestling

Submission wrestling or Combat wrestling in Japan, is a formula of competition and a general term describing the aspect of martial arts and combat sports that focus on clinch and ground fighting with the aim of obtaining a submission using submission holds...

 and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art, combat sport, and a self defense system that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting...

.

Point Fighting

Point fighting headgear, which is commonly required in sport Karate

Karate

is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...

tournaments is made of a moulded and dipped foam. This is type of headgear is most common in no contact and semi contact fighting. It is designed to protect against accidental impact, including the head hitting the floor after a slip or knockdown. This sort of headgear can be open face, full faced and sometimes even a full plastic face shield.