Orthopedic Shoes

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view showing the medial or inside of the flexible soled canvas shoe claimed in this invention.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view showing the flexible sole and the medial wedge portion contained thereon.

FIG. 3 is a top sectional view of a canvas orthopedic shoe illustrated in FIG. 1 taken along lines 3--3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a side longitudinal sectional view of a canvas orthopedic shoe.

FIG. 5 is a transverse cross sectional view of the orthopedic shoe taken along lines 5--5 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a prespective view showing the orthopedic sole and a leather upper adapted to fit into said sole.

FIG. 7 is a transverse cross sectional view of the sole and leather upper taken upon lines 7--7 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a cross sectional view with the leather upper and sole bended together.

Referring now to the drawings:

There is shown in FIGS. 1 through 5 an operative embodiment of the present invention pertaining to canvas or woven fabric shoes. The invention comprises an orthopedic shoe 10 comprising a flexible sole 11 and a canvas top 12. The flexible sole 11 may be made of any suitable material of rubberlike consistency including natural and synthetic rubbers, plasticized polymers, copolymers, and block copolymers. Such materials are well known and are traditionally used in making flexible soled canvas shoes. The sole is shaped such that the medial or inside of the heel portion of the shoe contains a heel wedge 13 which generally slopes toward the flat level of the sole on the lateral side and longitudinally just forward of the navicular bone. The heel wedge is a continuous part of the sole. As best illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5, the sole curves upwardly on the medial side in the area of the plantar arch and thus forms a straight area 14 extending from the calcaneus bone to the widest point of the shoe, which area is commonly called the ball of the foot. Thus, the traditional plantar arch portion of the canvas shoe is filled in and becomes an integral part of the sole thereby providing additional support for the arch and preventing running over on the medial side of the shoe.

An additional feature of the shoe which is unique is the placement of the arch support 15. The conventional placement of the arch is illustrated in FIG. 3 by dotted line 15a. However, it has been discovered that if the arch support is so placed that the highest portion of the arch support 15 is positioned to be under the highest portion of the arch, pronation of the feet may be inhibited and better foot position is obtained. Thus, the arch, as illustrated in FIG. 3, is moved backwardly such that the highest point of the arch support will be directly beneath the navicular bone in the tarsal area of the foot. Due to the arch support being moved backward to be under the navicular bone instead of being in the conventional position, the arch support 15 is higher by about 1/8 to 1/4 an inch than conventional arch supports with 3/16 of an inch being preferable. If desired, the arch support may be molded into the sole as an integral part thereof or may be otherwise glued and fastened between sole 11 and insole portion 16. With the combination of the arch 15, the filled in sole portion 14 and the heel wedge 13, the foot is forced into a forward or normal position rather than being in a pronated position. By utilizing the shoe of the present invention, the wearer does not have a tendency to have the ankle turn inwardly overriding the arch support and turning the forward portion of the shoe outwardly in relation to the heel portion. By utilizing such a shoe, correct foot position is not only maintained, but the feet are more rested and the wearer does not tire as easily.

While the invention is preferably designed for children and young adults with growing feet, it may also be utilized advantageously by adults and serve in maintaining correct foot position in regards in both the metatarsal and plantar arches, as well as preventing pronation of the feet.

It will be obvious that the shoes can be mass produced according to conventional shoe making techniques. For example, the medial wedge in the heel can be achieved by rotating the last in the process of manufacturing. On the other hand, it is also obvious that the shoe can be manufactured having the arch portion 14 filled in but having the heel wedge 13 and arch support 15 attached to the shoe according to a doctor's prescription as to the dimensions of such arch support and/or wedge.

A comparible but more versatile embodiment of the invention is illustrated by FIGS. 6, 7 and 8, which shows a sole 20 having the same heel wedge 13 on the medial side of the heel gradually sloping laterally and forwardly as illustrated in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 to the normal sole bottom. There is also a filled in sole portion 14 designed to fit under and around the side of the plantar arch of the foot. As shown in FIG. 7 the filled in portion 14 curves upwardly on the medial side of the foot under the plantar arch and forms a straight sole line which extends from the calcaneus bone portion of the heel to the widest point of the sole. The top side of the sole contains a rim or flange 21 into which an upper 22 may be seated. The height of the rim will depend upon the type of upper being connected therein. A canvas or fabric upper may require a higher rim whereas a leather upper shoe may have only a slight rim as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. In that case the upwardly curved area 23 of filled portion 14 may extend above the rim so as to provide proper foot support.

As illustrated in FIG. 6 the upper 22 is sized to fit into sole 20 with the rim 21 and upwardly curved area 23 adapted to contact the upper. Any of the adhesives presently in use in cementing soles to an upper may be used to transform any upper into an orthopedic shoe as shown in FIG. 8.

A distinct advantage of the invention as illustrated in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 is that the soles and uppers may be constructed separately and then be cemented together rather than the sole being molded about the upper in a molten or umpolymericized state and then caused to harden or polymerize to form the orthopedic shoe. Another advantage of the soles as disclosed is that special lasts are not required in the manufacturing step to produce an orthopedic shoe.

The soles are preferably applied to new shoes however shoes brought to a repair shop for resoling may be fitted with orthopedic soles.

From the above it is evident that pronation of the feet may be easily treated and corrected by the utilization of the orthopedic soles with any desired upper. The foot is placed into the proper position and the filled in sole portions 14 and 23 inhibit the ankles from bending inwardly.

Although the invention, as has been described, is deemed to be that which would form the preferred embodiment, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom without departing from the scope of the invention which is not to be limited to the details disclosed, but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to include any and all equivalent shoes.