Are there any aids (like a padded "belt") that can ease hip discomfort during aerobatics?

Question

When flying aerobatics, particularly maneuvers such as a slow roll, I frequently experience rather high discomfort on my jutting hip bones. I've googled "padded belts" but I have not found anything that would seem to help. Is such a thing an actual product, and if so, is there a proper term I could search for?

Basically, I'm looking for a garment/belt I could wear that would provide sufficient padding around my hip bones to mitigate this discomfort. (The discomfort is caused by the tight seatbelt combined with negative G's -- the belt itself is standard issue on a Pitts Special.)

Answer 1

You can try out a padded harness which may help, a variety of places mention the stuff offered by Hooker Harnesses and may be what you are looking for.

(source)

If you currently only have a lap belt installed in the aircraft in question you may want to consider 5 point harnesses as they can help by moving some of the load to your shoulders.

Answer 2

Since you mentioned a Pitts, I assume you already have a 5 point or 7 point harness (a 7 point is just like the 5 point, but with the addition of a second lap belt).

Check to make sure you've got the lap belt as low as possible. It should be below your belly, not on it. The whole idea is that the pressure of the belt is shared between the tops of your thighs & your hips.

When you're strapped in, if you roll inverted you should be hanging comfortably mostly from your thighs.

It might be necessary to tighten the strap that goes between your legs. That will help position the lap belt so it's low enough.

FWIW, that strap is the "anti-submarine" strap - it exists to keep the lap belt on bones & not on squishy lower abdomen.

You might try stuffing some foam under the lap belt, but my experience is that once I have the lap belt properly tightened, the foam is smashed flat and fairly useless.