Imagine sitting in an airplane seat just 17 inches wide for over 20 hours! A stopover in Singapore or Doha to break up the trip can make the journey a little more tolerable, but not much. As a past frequent flyer between Melbourne and London, I know first-hand what it’s like and it’s not fun.

I wasn’t aware of the potential health risks associated with long-haul flights – I don’t think many people are.

My name is Barry Davis and I’m the inventor, designer and developer of the CLOTBuster® In-Flight Passenger Foot Pump and founder of Medinco Health.

So, when I read an article about the World Health Organisation undertaking a study into the possible relationship between long-haul air travel and the potentially fatal deep vein thrombosis, my interest was aroused and I had to know more. My father suffered from poor blood circulation so it was a subject close to home.

The more I looked into the topic I discovered that there was a lot of information about DVT and its association with being immobile for long periods of time, however airlines provided little information to their passengers about the heightened risk of DVT and long-haul flights.

I met with a doctor friend of mine to get an understanding of the physiology of deep vein thrombosis, why it occurs, which people are most at risk and what existing preventive measures were available to reduce the risk of DVT.

Read more about the CLOTBuster Clinical Study

Apart from compression stockings and anti-coagulants such as warfarin and heparin, I couldn’t find any DVT preventive measures that were suitable for self-administered therapy in a seated situation, such as on a long-haul flight.

Any solution had to be clinically trialled for efficacy, lightweight, portable and inexpensive. Having designed and developed a couple of consumer products previously, I had some experience of the invention process which helped in achieving the desired outcome to design a product which would help to mitigate the risk.

So, 18 months later, after going through various industrial design concepts, getting the device classified by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA Class 1), getting recognition as a medical device worldwide (GMDN), getting international trademark and design registrations and Australian manufacturing in place, the device was finally ready to take off.

My goal was to develop an alternative DVT risk mitigation solution and I believe the CLOTBuster® In-Flight Passenger Foot Pump has achieved this.

Enjoy your flight!

Mission

To raise awareness of the relationship between long-haul air travel and the increased risk of blood clots, and to deliver an effective and non-invasive solution to mitigate this risk.

Vision

To make air travel a healthier experience for everyone.