Foot orthosis support device method and apparatus
A flexible support device adapted to provide overall structural biomechanics support and contouring of a lower limb of a patient by a practitioner where the flexible support device having various indentations to provide proper fitting of a bold for production of an orthosis device in one form.
This application claims priority benefit of U.S. Ser. No. 60/628,807, filed Nov. 15, 2004; U.S. Ser. No. 60/552,491, filed Mar. 12, 2004; and U.S. Ser. No. 60/537,040, filed Jan. 16, 2004.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONOrthotics and lower limb orthosis devices, in one form, are made for patients by practitioners for a custom fit to accommodate a patients lower limb support needs. It has been found, in the practice of forming foot orthotics or orthoses, that the logistics of transporting product from the factory to the practitioner is time-consuming, as the practitioner must first send a mold back to the manufacturing facility. Further, there is an issue of maintaining product at the practitioner's location whereby constantly sending molds to the manufacturer can deplete the practitioner's supply of stock mold materials. Therefore, in one form it is desirable to have an embodiment where a semi-rigid device used to make a negative mold of a patient's foot used for is not sent back to the orthosis manufacturer, but rather, can be stored at the practitioner's location for reuse. Further, storage space is generally not pletiful at a practitioner's business location, and maintaining inventory of foot molding products can be very challenging. In one form, the embodiments below disclose a convenient method of storing and stacking the flexible members.
The description relates to a flexible support device that is adapted to be used in assisting in the molding casting process. In general, a negative shape of the patient's foot is casted for purposes of creating a dynamic angle foot orthosis. It should be noted that the foot cast is for the lower leg including the ankle portion, as well as the lower foot region of a patient, essentially the biomechanical structures below the knee of a patient.
Another area of the disclosure relates to pediatric orthotics utilizing a flexible support device. In areas where custom orthotics are not appropriate for various budgetary reasons, a mild support system is advantageous for various young people with foot misalignments. Therefore, pre-made orthotics have provided a service where foot support is appropriate.
During pronation of a foot there are three significant segments of the foot that must be controlled. The heel area during pronation tends to shift into eversion. Eversion is an anatomical condition where the heel, with respect to the ankle, is repositioned and rotates about a longitudinal axis laterally outwardly. The longitudinal arch must maintain a proper biomechanical position and alignment. During pronation the arch moves medially and distally to a flat position, more so in the medial direction. Finally, the forefoot will shift laterally outwardly to abduction. Therefore, all three of these occurences happen in conjunction and the heel and the arch in the forefoot will shift commensurate with the misalignment of each general foot region.
It should be noted that during collapse of the mid foot longitudinal arch, the skin surface of the heel will remain substantially intact with the weight-bearing surface, but the upper portion of the heel will move laterally inwardly, otating about a substantially longitudinally extending axis.
Therefore, an effective orthotic or orthosis device must address all three of these simultaneously while providing for movement and general athletic motions of the patient. The device should address these misalignment issues and be comfortable and wearable by the patient.
A further embodiment of the invention is to have an off-the-shelf non-customized device for the patient as well. Further, because patients that are young are growing and outsize these devices in a relatively short amount of time, there is an economic incentive to make a less expensive device which will have a limited lifetime irrespective of the use and wear of the device.
Deep foot orthotics are problematic in that they have not often been comfortable to patients. Therefore, the challenge has been to provide a comfortable off-the-shelf foot orthotic that provides support and adapts to various patients' feet without specific molding.
Pre-made inserts have been problematic because of the instability associated with them.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In general, the specification below will first describe one form of casting a lower limb orthotic/orthosis device whereby a flexible support device is employed. Thereafter, with reference to
As shown in
As further shown in
As shown in
Also shown in
Further shown in
The most forward distal region indicated at 52 is the toe rise region. This region is divided into a drop first toe region subregion 54 and a two-five region 56. The drop toe region 54 is positioned slightly vertically lower with respect to the two-five subregion 56. From the sulcus, the two-five subregion 56 slopes downwardly in the longitudinally forward direction toward the distal area and downwardly to the laterally outward region indicated by arrow 58. This region helps align the foot and allows propreaceptive input for the client so that the foot may be aligned properly. Specifically, the surface allows the client to become aware of his feet and his foot placement. Therefore the raised region brings this awareness to the client during the casting process, allowing for a better mold.
There will now be discussion of the molding process, during which a practitioner will take a mold of the lower foot region of a patient. As shown in
Thereafter (or prior to sizing), a stockinette is placed on the patient's foot as shown in
Now referring to
As shown in
As shown in
Before the wrap 97 hardens, the practitioner engages in an alignment and feature definition process. This process essentially positions the foot into a proper neutral biomechanical position to form a proper mold. As described above, the features of the flexible support device 20, given its flexibility, allow the practitioner to have a greater amount of control over the manipulation of the position of the various features of the foot and lower limb regions of the patient. In other words, without some flexibility of the flexible support device 20, the anatomical features of the foot would not be manipulated. However, the flexible support device is sufficiently rigid to allow a distribution of pressure upon adjacent regions of the foot and lower ankle region that the practitioner is not in direct contact with. The goal is to have the mold formfitting to the contours of the patient's foot and maintaining the correct overall biomechanical alignment.
The aforementioned arch regions as shown in
The practitioner's other hand 96 of the practitioner brings the forefoot to the neutral position. A neutral position must be executed about a longitudinal axis so the portion of the foot is properly positioned. Further, the medial and lateral alignment must be properly aligned as well. It is important to keep the heel vertical, therefore there may be some sacrifice in keeping the forefoot horizontal in order to properly align the heel region of the patient's foot. The heel alignment is the base, and given the individual's range of motion, the best biomechanical alignment is obtained. The flexible support device provides a more gradual transition from the forefoot to the rear foot because the rigidity and flexibility of the flexible support device 20 will allow any manipulation to extend longitudinally rearwardly and supply a force along the surface of the foot. In other words, even though the practitioner will exert a force on the distal region of the foot, this force is distributed longitudinally rearwardly to the heel region because of the flexibly controlled deformation of the flexible support device. Without the flexible support device 20, any manipulation by the practitioner's fingers will create a localized depression upon the wrap 97. However, with the flexible support device contained thereunder, any manipulation is not directly applied but it is more uniformly distributed around the adjacent regions were pressure is applied. Given that the flexible support device already has a preset form of key features and depressions as described in
As shown in
As shown in
There will now be a discussion of various adjustments that can be made during the molding process with initial reference to
In the situation where there are bony prominences or extreme shapes of a patient's foot which require special accommodation, reference is made to FIGS. 13 to 16. As shown in
It should be noted that the flexible support device 20 is particular adapted for external posting. During this process, shim-like devices are positioned either externally of the wrap or in some cases wrapped internally thereunder. The shim-like devices provide a consistent support surface for maintaining the foot position in a certain natural alignment positioned for molding. As described above, the application of pressure of the shim allows for a more consistent natural transition of forefoot to rear foot, given the rigidity of the flexible support device and the flexibility of the device as well. It should further be noted that the various features as shown in
The embodiments as shown in
In one form, the control module 120, which is one form of a flexible support device, can be used to assist in casting whereby modules are placed around the patient's foot and squeeze tight for proper fitting. Thereafter, the practitioner, using standard mold casting techniques that are described above, is able to create a correct negative cast of the patient's foot. Thereafter, this cast is sent to a facility (or executed on site) whereby the control module is a known fixture of a cast and making an improper positive model of the patient's foot can be avoided. Thereafter, there is a positive model (mold) that is used to create an orthosis support device.
It should be noted that it is advantageous to have the lateral lower portion extend over the foot as well as have the proximal section extend up the lower calf of the patient to control foot position during the casting.
A second application is to use the control module as a sizing shell, whereby no casting is conducting by the practitioner, but the particular size of the control module is relayed back to the manufacturer of the final braces to eliminate casting and the physical mailing of the cast which is expensive and causes a time delay.
To facilitate the communication of the proper sizing of the foot without taking a cast, marking indications, such as shown in
Another element of the apparatus is to have modular components as shown in
As shown in
This concept can be taken further to having an off-the-shelf type orthotic with mix-and-match components to properly fit the patient.
Now referring to the embodiment shown in
The outer shell has an interior chamber region and the inner liner has an exterior surface that is adapted to engage the inner surface of the outer shell 222. The outer support shell 222 comprises a perimeter support region 226 having medial and lateral sections 228 and 230. The outer support shell 222 further has a heel cup 232 in the rearward portion of the device 220. The perimeter support region 226 is positioned in a location that is an approximate support location for the patient. In other words, the outer shell provides a rigid support to control the biomechanical positioning and alignment of the patient.
The outer support shell is made of a rigid material such as plastic, but does provided a certain amount of flexibility or comfort to account for various foot positions which the patient may be in without allowing the foot to completely collapse.
The embodiment shown in
The perimeter region 226 provides a certain amount of flexibility; when it is depressed by hand with a modest grip, the size will deflect inward or outwardly a few millimeters. It is mportant to note that this flexibility provides functionality for accommodating a wide range of patients' feet. Further, the flexibility allows for a footwear device such as a shoe or a boot to press upon the outer surface of the outer support shell to provide a better and more accommodating fit. The outer support shell 222 has an overall thickness between 0.5 and 3 millimeters in the broader range. A more preferable range is between 1/16 of an inch to 90 thousandths of an inch. In one form, a polyethylene base plastic is used to mold the outer support shell 222. Of course other materials providing flexibility and strength can be employed.
As shown in
As shown in
The inner liner 224 protects the side of the foot as it shifts positions from the proximal edge of the support shell. In other words, the patient is less likely to engage the perimeter rigid region 250 and have their flesh have a localized pressure developing an irritation.
There will now be a description of the inner liner 224 with initial reference to
The forward region of the outer support shell 222 has a lateral region 270. As shown in
By having the outer support shell 222 provide the rigid structure so the extension 272 is positioned at substantially right angles from the lateral region to the plantar region, the inner shell provides some rigidity to prevent abduction of the foot when the foot pronates. This is a condition when the medial longitudinal arch of the patient collapses.
Now referring to
Therefore, it can be appreciated that the apparatus 220 is well suited to prevent pronation of a patient's foot which is a common joint misalignments biomechanical issue in many young patients. The medial section 226 of the perimeter support region will have a tendency to apply a pressure on the medial region to prevent the eversion described above. Further, with the cup region orientated where the rearward surface extends in a plane that is substantially orthoganal to the longitudinal axis and the medial region in a plane orthogonal to the lateral axis, additional support is provided and added rigidity is a benefit to prevent this rotation of the heel described above.
The depth allows the flexible support shell to function properly because having the vertical region indicated at 227 in
The final component of providing a proper biomechanical alignment for the patient is preventing the forefoot from abducting laterally outwardly with respect to the heel region of the patient. As described above in greater detail the extension region 270 provides a base region for supporting the portion of the inner liner region 272 to aid in supporting in controlling the abduction. As described above, the flexible foam insert provides flexibility during running where it will actually collapse to a certain degree to provide the range of motion for the patient.
The apparatus 220 is particularly useful in an environment of footwear such as a shoe where the upper perimeter region 266 of the insert is adapted to position laterally outwardly with respect to the center chamber region of the shoe. In other words, the region 272 is easily repositioned and grasped laterally outwardly by the patient and the perimeter region of the patient's foot will easily glide past the outer support shell 222 and be positioned in proper foot position in the shoe. It should further be noted that given the overall length of the apparatus, it will fit properly in a shoe and not be positioned vertically forward with respect to the shoe to prevent movement of the soft liner inner liner 224.
In one form, a layer on the upper surface of the inner liner 224 can be applied to aid in breathability of the apparatus 220. Further, the coefficient of friction between the foot and foot and stocking of the patient can be adjusted to prevent discomfort such as excessive footwear which may cause blisters or the like.
A further modification can be employed where the lower surface of the outer support shell can be filled with some form of material to provide extra support and rigidity. In one form, the aforementioned arch regions can be enhanced and amplified to facilitate the proprioceptive feedback to the patient.
One form of manufacturing and making the outer support shell is employing common thermal sheet forming techniques such as draping. However, many forms of manufacture can be employed such as injection molding, milling etc.
While the present invention is illustrated by description of several embodiments and while the illustrative embodiments are described in detail, it is not the intention of the applicants to restrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to such detail. Additional advantages and modifications within the scope of the appended claims will readily appear to those sufficed in the art. The invention in its broader aspects is therefore not limited to the specific details, representative apparatus and methods, and illustrative examples shown and described. Accordingly, departures may be made from such details without departing from the spirit or scope of applicants' general concept.
Claims
1. A method of forming a lower limb orthosis to the lower limb region of the patient, the lower limb region having a foot region and an ankle region, the method comprising the steps of:
- a. positioning a stockinette over the patient's foot and ankle region,
- b. selecting a flexible support device from a plurality of flexible support devices, the flexible support device having a heel cup region and a central chamber region,
- c. positioning the central cavity region of the flexible support device around the patient's foot,
- d. applying a plurality of molding strips around the foot and ankle region of the patient's foot and the flexible support device,
- e. allowing the molding strips to form a mold having lower and upper regions,
- f. removal of the mold by incising the mold between the lower and upper regions,
- g. removing the flexible support device from the mold,
- h. sending the mold to a manufacturing facility for use in the production of a lower limb orthosis device for the patient.
2. The method as recited in claim 1 whereas when positioning the flexible support device, the distal regions, including the metatarsal heads, do not cross the total sulcus having a distal methead proximal toe rise area.
3. The method as recited in claim 1 whereas portions of the flexible support device can be heated and formed to different contours to accommodate the patient's foot.
4. The method as recited in claim 1 whereas the flexible support device has a forward vertical region that defines a gap region between the toes of the patient and the forward vertical region.
5. The method as recited in the claim 4 whereby the gap region is greater than one quarter of an inch.
6. The method as recited in claim 1 whereby a second stockinette is positioned over the flexible support device prior to application of the molding strips.
7. The method as recited in claim 6 whereby the second stockinette is adapted to provide additional spacing between and inner surface of the mold and the outer surface of the patient's foot.
8. The method as recited in claim 6 whereby a cutting strip is positioned beneath the second stockinette to assist in cutting and removal of the mold.
9. The method as recited in claim 8 whereby a non-flesh cutting element is used to remove the mold.
10. The method as recited in claim 8 whereby the cutting strip is attached to the first stockinette prior to application of the second stockinette.
11. The method as recited in claim 1 whereas the flexible support device is heated in a localized region and reformed in a manner determined by the practitioner to accommodate protrusions or indentations of the patient's lower limb.
12. The method as recited in claim 1 whereas the flexible support device is incised about a substantially longitudinal direction, and the lateral width is adjusted to provide accommodation for various potential shapes of the foot of the patient.
13. The method as recited in claim 1 whereby the flexible support device is retrieved from the plurality of flexible support devices that are in a storage location, whereby the flexible support devices are arranged in a stacked position, whereby an outer surface of an immediately smaller flexible support device is engaged in a chamber region of the immediately larger flexible support device so that the plurality of flexible support devices are arranged in a stacked manner.
14. The method as recited in claim 13 whereby the plurality of flexible support devices in a stored position provide a gauging system for the practitioner to properly select and reselect individual flexible support devices for fitting the patient.
15. The method as recited in claim 1 whereby the flexible support device provides sufficient rigidity to allow a distribution of pressure upon adjacent regions of the foot and lower ankle region that the practitioner is not in direct contact with to have the mold formfitting to the contours of the patient's foot and maintaining the correct overall biomechanical alignment.
16. The method as recited in claim 15 where a heal cup of the flexible support device provides an initial foundational support when molding the patient.
17. The method as recited in claim 15 where the practitioner checks the distal regions to ensure that the metatarsal heads are not crossing the total sulcus.
18. The method as recited in claim 1 where a two-five sub-region of the flexible support device slopes downwardly in a longitudinally forward direction toward the distal area and downwardly to the laterally outward region and aids in aligning the foot by providing propreaceptive input for the patient to bring about awareness to the patient during the casting process.
19. The method as recited in claim 1 where following application of the molding strips, the practitioner will exert a force on the distal region of the foot where this force is distributed longitudinally rearwardly to the heel region because of the flexibly controlled deformation of the flexible support device.
20. The method as recited in claim 1 where the flexible support device has sidewalls with the medial lateral wrap region that provides increased support for positioning the foot into a desired alignment as the strips harden.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 18, 2005
Publication Date: Apr 13, 2006
Inventor: Donald Buethorn (Ferndale, WA)
Application Number: 11/038,678
International Classification: B29C 33/40 (20060101);