Boots – shoes – and leggings – Boots and shoes – Foot-supporting or foot-conforming feature
Patent
1995-01-06
1998-06-09
Patterson, M. D.
Boots, shoes, and leggings
Boots and shoes
Foot-supporting or foot-conforming feature
36 93, 36 95, 36110, A43B 1338, A61F 500, A61F 537
Patent
active
057618348
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to footgear having orthopaedic soles providing pressure relief areas for the feet.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The problems solved by the present invention were discussed at length in the prior patent application cited above,and the background section of that application will therefore be repeated here.
Support pads are used in a wide variety of applications to provide cushioned support to an injured or otherwise sensitive bodily appendage. Such pads have the dual purpose of (1) providing orthopaedic support to the appendage and (2) protecting the appendage from further injury or damage resulting from contact with a foreign object or hard surface.
One common use of a support pad is as a cushioned foot sole in specialized footwear such as soft boots or patient walkers. These devices generally employ some type of soft, resilient material, such as foam, to provide cushioned support of a sensitive or damaged foot.
A particular problem arises when it becomes necessary to provide uneven support across the outer surface of an appendage. For example, an ulcerated appendage, often found in diabetic patients, requires pressure relief to the ulcerated area to allow healing. In this instance, it is desirable to have a pad which will apply cushioned support to the appendage, while refraining from supporting the afflicted area. For diabetic patients, the feet are commonly beset with such ulcerations, and it is therefore desirable to provide a cushioned support sole for a shoe or walker which is capable of providing specific zones of pressure relief.
Other approaches have addressed the problem of providing cushioned foot support. U.S. Pat. No. 2,598,217 (Bronson), issued May 27, 1952, discloses an invalid's boot with a thick insole. However, these approaches require replacement of the sole for each new patient, or for each new area of the original patient's foot which must be relieved.
Andrews U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,078 discloses a footwear insole with a molded arch support. The insole has either three indentations or a single banana-shaped indentation arranged in an arc behind the toes, and another indentation at the heel. A user may adhesively fix pad inserts into one or more of the indentations to provide support to the foot. The user omits inserts from selected indentations to relieve pressure on certain areas of the foot.
Unfortunately, a number of problems arise when diabetes patients, who are prone to severe foot ulcers, attempt to use the Andrews device. Before discussing these deficiencies, however, it is useful to review the foot problem that many diabetes patients face. It is well known that diabetes patients are prone to foot ulcers. In fact, lesions of the foot are responsible for more than one-fifth of the hospitalizations of diabetic patients. More than 40% of the lower extremity amputations in the United States are performed on diabetic patients who have poor circulation in the lower limb. With reduced sensation in the foot, the patient is unlikely to feel discomfort when the skin is subject to shear forces during walking, and consequently he or she does not properly adjust his or her gait. Lesions are formed or are made worse.
Diabetes patients also experience other extreme difficulties with their feet. Diabetic patients often undergo an unfortunate evolutionary pattern of anatomical deterioration. Initially, the foot will have a normal appearance and will only have vascular or neuro-vascular deficiencies. However, the bone structure can quickly deteriorate. Charcot joints can form, and the foot becomes drastically deformed. From then on, the areas of the foot that can bear weight are abnormal, their locations are unpredictable, and custom foot accommodations will be required for the remainder of the person's ambulatory life.
The Andrews device does little to overcome these problems. Foot ulcers and bone deterioration can occur anywhere on the foot, yet Andrews provides only a few pads in very specific locations. The Andrews fixed-location pad arrangement ca
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Grim Tracy E.
Montag Eric Gerard
O'Donnell Kevin Richard
Patterson M. D.
Royce Medical Company
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