Airlines and passengers alike worry about deep vein thrombosis, which is caused by blood “pooling” and clotting in leg veins after hours wedged into a narrow aircraft seat. But No-Clots of Cardiff, UK, believes there is no point in airlines issuing exercise charts, because working out in cramped seats infuriates the people sitting next to you (W0 03/053323). Its patented fix is a modified blood pressure meter. Instead of an exercise session, you strap an inflatable cuff to your calf. A small, portable, computer-controlled pump then inflates and deflates the cuff in a carefully controlled cycle that repeats every 50 seconds. This squeezes the blood out of the veins and then refills…
In-flight vein massage
By Barry Fox
23 August 2003
