Injury prevention in design

When Nike Bauer launched the ONE95 skate in 2008, they claimed to have developed a new material, which they refer to as "ALIVE".

The designers' of the ONE95 spoke at length about superior thermoforming abilities of this material, allowing the outer shell of the skate to mould to the foot, as opposed to just the interior components as is the case with other skates.

The "ALIVE" material makes it possible for the outer shell to mould to the athlete's foot as it is not Epoxy based, as conventional skate shell materials are. This means that the material will become more malleable when the skates are baked.

A better fit to the athlete's foot is beneficial as it prevents power loss from slipping inside the boot, as well as making the skate more comfortable for the athlete.

However, the video shows another interesting quality of the "ALIVE" material. Both of these side impacts are from a standard puck travelling at 80mph. The Easton S15 is deformed to a much larger extent than the ONE5 skate. This suggests that a player is much less likely to suffer an ankle injury if they were to receive a side impact when wearing the ONE95 skate.

It would be unfair to assume that this reduced deformation is exclusively due to the ALIVE material, as the construction of the skate is just as important. I do feel however, that with ankle injuries being commonplace in Ice Hockey, that the design and material technology put into the ONE95 skate should be taken notice of by other manufacturers.

Ben Brown