29 September 2003

Release bindings could lessen injuries
In the US, there is a a growing number of personal injury claims stemming from fixed and not releasable foot bindings on snowboards. Revolution Manufacturing Corp is developing new bindings in the hope to reduce injuries and lawsuits.

Releasable foot bindings are safety devices that help release a snowboarder from the snowboard, minimizing the impact of the fall and the likelihood of injuries or even death by suffocation or drowning, the company said. "In the last five to six years, I've heard of about 60 personal injury and product liability lawsuits filed nationwide," said Matthew Miller, Revolution's owner. "According to studies by several medical groups, the rate of injuries is about 250 percent higher on snowboards that don't have releasable foot bindings."

Post Olympic snowboarding profile increasing
The company recently developed a new releasable foot binding technology called the Z Interface, replacing previous bindings where you had to drill through the snowboard in order to mount the binding. With this new binding, all you need is a screwdriver and you can detach the binding and switch it over to a variety of snowboards. Miller claims his product prevents up to 90 percent of snowboard-related injuries - crucial to building the credibility in the industry since the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake helped raise the profile of snowboarding as a sport.

Phil Lowry, an attorney at Howard Lewis & Petersen that specializes in personal injury claims including those from snowboarding accidents, agreed. 'At issue here are snowboards that don't have safety foot-release bindings. That's causing snowboarders to have spiral bone fractures when they fall.'

Prevention is better than cure
In snowboarding, both feet are strapped to the same board and always pointed in the same direction. This protects the knee from twisting, but the upper extremities are in the position to take the force of the fall. When boarders fall, they land on their hands, shoulders, rear ends or heads. The most common snowboarding injuries include wrist fractures, sprains, elbow contusions and dislocations and broken collarbones, as well as other head or neck injuries.

There are still mixed views in the industry as to the success and safety of releasable bindings, but there will always be a market for them. Release bindings are standard in the ski industry, and many serious accidents have been avoided with these safety devices.

[Source: The Daily Herald]

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