ADJUSTABLE ORTHOPEDIC INSOLES

Abstract

There are provided in accordance with the present invention adjustable orthopedic insoles including a foothold having a base frame, a medial arc support and a tarsal support, so that a camber located beneath the medial arc support provides a clearance located between the foothold, and at least one arcuate abutment mountable in the aforementioned camber. Conjointly, a methods of adjusting orthopedic insoles to a user employing a set of adjustable orthopedic insoles including selecting the most comfortable combination of the footholds and arcuate abutments and of adjusting metatarsal support of the orthopedic insoles of by selecting the most comfortable metatarsal insert are further disclosed.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit of priority to Israeli Patent Application Serial Number 176442, filed Jun. 20, 2006, entitled “ADJUSTABLE ORTHOPEDIC INSOLES;” the aforementioned application is incorporated herein by this reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates in general to orthotics and in particular to orthopedic adjustable insoles having replaceable abutments.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Orthopedic insoles are shoe inserts providing supportive surface to the foothold. Normally such insoles are intended to correct an abnormal or irregular foot pattern and elevate physical discomfort. They are typically arcuate in specific curvature angles to be adapted to the foot pattern thereby making standing, walking, or running, more comfortable.

Much effort has been invested in order to make orthopedic insoles more effective. U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,578 discloses an orthopedic insole structure having metatarsal and tarsal support portions and an intermediate arch support portion interposed between. Shock absorbing pads are inserted into recesses located at the tarsal and metatarsal support portions. A third insert, which is more rigid than the insole, is inserted in a recess located below the intermediate arc support portion of the insole.

Normally measuring characteristics a person's foot is not accurate enough. Therefore, fitting new insoles is usually involves an adaptation phase in which the user visits the insole provider once or several times for an additional adjustment and fine-tuning. An expert orthotist typically provides such a service. Therefore orthopedic insoles adjustable by the user are called for.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an orthopedic insole onto which an arcuate abutment is mounted according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of the arcuate abutment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a bottom side view of the orthopedic insole without the arcuate abutment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of a base frame of a foothold according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an isometric view of an exemplary metatarsal insert.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention an adjustable orthopedic insole is provided. The adjustable orthopedic insole consists of a foothold and a replaceable arcuate abutment. According to the invention a user is provided with a set of adjustable orthopedic insoles including a pair of footholds and a few pairs of matching arcuate abutments that slightly differ one from the other. The user himself, as is further described below, carries out adjustment of the orthopedic insole to his foot.

Adjustable Orthopedic Insole

Reference is first made to FIG. 1 showing adjustable orthopedic insole 10 consisting of foothold 12 and abutment 14 mounted beneath and facing its inward looking side 16. Foothold 12 has a base frame, not shown, the topside of which and a portion of its bottom is covered as further described infra. The base frame is typically made of thermoplastic rigid material such as polypropylene and PVC. Although made of rigid materials, the base frame is somewhat elastic due to its substantially small thickness and is therefore mostly longitudinally and somewhat transversally bendable. Abutment 14 can be either rigid when made of the same materials as the base frame, or flexible. Foothold 12 has optional arcuate metatarsal support 18, tarsal support 20 and medial arc support 22.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 2-3 in which an isometric view of an arcuate abutment and a bottom side view of a foothold shown in FIG. 1 are respectively shown. Abutment 30 has pins 32 upwardly protruding from topside 34. Topside 34 is longitudinally arcuate and its upper surface slopes towards end 35. The height of the topmost point of abutment 30 and the various curvature angles of its upper face are made such that when inserted beneath a foothold, the height and curvature angles of the medial arc support conforms to the desired curvature angles of the medial arc of the user's foot. Pins 32 and the rear wall 36 provide for fitting abutment 30 in place when mounted beneath foothold 40. Recesses 42 longitudinally disposed at camber 43 provide for fitting the abutment in place by means of its upwardly protruding pins. Pins 32 and the conforming recesses 42 can be replaced by protrusions of any shape and number disposed on the upper face of the abutment and conforming with respective recesses disposed at the bottom face of the camber, or by any other keying mechanism as known in the art. Any such keying mechanism has at least one keying member of one kind such as a male keying member protruding either from the tope surface of the abutment or from the camber and its conforming keying member of the other kind, which is in this case a female keying member, located at the bottom face of the camber or the tope surface of the abutment respectively. Camber 43 provides for clearance located between the medial arc support of foothold 40 and the inner sole of the user's shoe. This clearance is either filled with the abutment when inserted, or left vacant. Obviously in a case that this clearance is kept vacant only the foothold by itself supports the medial arc of the user. Cover 44, which is made of the same material of the top cover, disposed across the topside of foothold 40, covers the front end of the bottom face 45 of foothold 40. Cover 44 is typically made of fabric, leather, neoprene, or plastic resins such as nylon. Towards the front end, foothold 40 exhibits concavity 46 in bottom face 45 whereto a complimentary convex metatarsal insert, not shown, can be introduced, as will be elaborated infra. Foothold 40, towards the rear end may further have recess 48.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4 showing base frame 60 of a foothold according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Camber 62 is located at inward looking face 64 of base frame 60. The supporting face 66 and recesses longitudinally disposed along camber 62, not shown, respectively conform with the upwardly protruding pins and the rear wall of an abutment. Aperture 70 provides for inserting an optional shock-absorbing pad serving as a tarsal support in addition to the rigid inclined portion of the base frame adjacent to supporting face 66. Such rigid support is useful especially in cases of excessive supination. An optional arcuate metatarsal support 72 is located at the front lower part of medial arc support 74. Such an arcuate support made of either shock absorbing, flexible or rigid, material, is attached to the top face of base frame 60 prior to its covering with the top cover as described hereinabove. Base frames of the invention conformal to the feet of a user are manufactured such as by injection-molding, utilizing plastic resins and by employing suitable molds. The additional optional supporting pads are attached in its respective places prior to the attaching and or molding of the respective top and bottom covers.

Reference is now made to FIG. 5 which is an isometric view of an exemplary metatarsal insert 80 to be inserted into concavity 46 shown in FIG. 3. Again in FIG. 5, patch 81 is typically made of a flexible material and surface 82 thereof may be coated with adhesives. Convex dome 84 extends upwards surface 82 and can be made of elastic or rigid materials. In some embodiments the metatarsal insert can have a tear-like shape.

Adjusting an Orthopedic Insole

A user is provided with a set of orthopedic insoles including a pair of (left and right) footholds and often two, or typically three, pairs of (left and right) matching abutments. The two or three pairs of abutments slightly differ in their maximal heights and are color coded accordingly. For example, the pair of the highest abutments are colored red and the dimensions of each of its members best fit in the desired pattern of the user feet. A yellow pair is somewhat lower and a violet pair is further slightly lower. The user will choose by trial the pair that best accommodates to his foot patterns. The red and yellow abutments are typically made of rigid material; whereas the violet pair is made for example of gel that is elastic and therefore can be simultaneously elongated and lowered when stressed. Obviously a user may choose to use only the footholds without the abutments, which is another optional way of adjusting the insoles to a user foot. The maximal height as well as the curvature angles of the top surface of the two abutments of a pair need not be the same. The height of the right abutment can be larger than the height of the left of an exemplary pair suitable to a user whose right leg is the dominant one.

The metatarsal support of the orthopedic insoles can be further adjusted by inserting various metatarsal inserts, possibly of different sizes and or different rigidity, into the concavity towards the front end of the foothold, such as concavity 46 shown in FIG. 5. The optimal metatarsal support can be achieved upon choosing by trial the size and or the rigidity of a metatarsal insert that accommodate user's foot pattern the best. The metatarsal insert can be appended into the concavity and the flexible patch thereof can be further adhesively engaged to the foothold.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the embodiments of the invention, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention. Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention. While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, it will be appreciated that many variations, modifications and other applications of the invention may be made.

Claims

1. An adjustable orthopedic insole comprising

a foothold having a base frame, a medial arc support and a tarsal support, wherein a camber located beneath said medial arc support provides a clearance located between said foothold when inserted into a shoe and the inner sole of said shoe;

at least one arcuate abutment mountable in said camber, and wherein said arcuate abutment has a rear wall, and wherein said rear wall conforms a supporting face of said camber.

2. An adjustable orthopedic insole as in claim 1, wherein said arcuate abutment has at least one keying member of the first kind conforming a keying member of the second kind disposed at the bottom face of said camber.

3. An adjustable orthopedic insole as in claim 1, wherein said foothold has a tarsal support including at least an inclined portion of said base frame adjacent to said supporting face.

4. An adjustable orthopedic insole as in claim 1, wherein said at least one arcuate abutment is made of rigid material.

5. An adjustable orthopedic insole as in claim 1, wherein said at least one arcuate abutments is elongated when stressed.

6. An adjustable orthopedic insole as in claim 1, wherein said foothold further has towards the front end a concavity for a metatarsal insert.

7. A set of adjustable orthopedic insoles comprising wherein the maximal height of any arcuate abutment of the first pair of said at least two pairs of matching arcuate abutments is somewhat larger than the maximal height of the respective arcuate abutment of the second pair of said at least two matching arcuate abutments, and wherein each of said matching arcuate abutments has a rear wall conforming with a supporting face of said respective camber.

a pair of footholds having a base frame, a medial arc support and a tarsal support each, wherein a camber located beneath said medial arc support provides a clearance located between said foothold when inserted into a shoe and the inner sole of said shoe;

at least two pairs of matching arcuate abutments, wherein said matching arcuate abutments are each mountable in a respective camber of said footholds, and

8. A set of adjustable orthopedic insoles as in claim 7, wherein each of said arcuate abutments has at least one keying member of the first kind conforming a keying member of the second kind disposed at the bottom face of said respective camber.

9. A set of adjustable orthopedic insoles as in claim 7, wherein each of said footholds has a tarsal support including at least an inclined portion of said base frame adjacent to said supporting face.

10. A set of adjustable orthopedic insoles as in claim 7, wherein each arcuate abutment of at least one of said at least two pairs of arcuate abutments is made of rigid material.

11. A set of adjustable orthopedic insoles as in claim 7, wherein each arcuate abutment of at least one of said at least two arcuate abutments is elongated when stressed.

12. A set of adjustable orthopedic insoles as in claim 7, wherein each said foothold further has a concavity for a metatarsal insert towards the front end.

13. A method for adjusting orthopedic insoles to a user employing a set of adjustable orthopedic insoles, wherein said set of adjustable orthopedic insoles includes a pair of footholds and at least two pairs of arcuate abutments, said method comprising selecting the most comfortable combination of said footholds and members selected from a group of members, wherein said members are respectively mounted onto said footholds, and wherein said group of members including all the arcuate abutments of said at least two pairs of arcuate abutments and two empty groups, and wherein said foothold has a base frame, a medial arc support and a tarsal support, and wherein a camber located beneath said medial arc support providing clearance between said foothold and a sole of a shoe, and wherein each of said arcuate abutment of each pair is mountable onto a respective camber of said footholds, and wherein the maximal height of each arcuate abutment of the first pair of said at least two pairs of arcuate abutments is somewhat larger than the maximal height of the respective arcuate abutment of the second pair of said at least two arcuate abutments, and wherein a rear wall of each of said arcuate abutments conforms a supporting face of said respective camber.

14. A method as in claim 13, wherein each of said arcuate abutments has at least one keying member of the first kind conforming with a keying member of the second kind disposed at the bottom face of said respective camber.

15. A method as in claim 13, wherein each of said footholds has a tarsal support including at least an inclined portion of said base frame adjacent to said supporting face.

16. A method as in claim 13, wherein each arcuate abutment of at least one of said at least two pairs of arcuate abutments is made of rigid material.

17. A method as in claim 13, wherein each arcuate abutment of at least one of said at least two pairs of arcuate abutments is elongated when stressed.

18. A method as in claim 13, wherein said footholds further have a concavity for a metatarsal insert towards the front end, and wherein said adjusting further comprises inserting at least one of said metatarsal insert into at least said one concavity respectively.