HIGH-HEELED FOOT APPAREL
Devices, methods, and systems discussed herein relate to a high-heeled shoe; and more particularly, for providing improved comfort and/or to alleviate foot pain related to the wearing of a high-heeled shoe. For example, a high-heeled shoe may include an insole or a top outer layer and a bottom rigid structure. The bottom rigid structure may include a front portion, a mid portion, and an end portion. The front portion of the bottom rigid structure may include a cavity or cut-out portion for insertion of an encapsulated gel. When the shoe is worn, the encapsulated gel may expand laterally in response to an introduction of pressure on a top surface of the encapsulated gel thereby dispersing pressure on the balls of the foot.
1. Field
The present invention relates to a device, method, and/or system for alleviating pressure, soreness, or pain to a person's foot resulting from the person wearing a high-heeled shoe.
2. Description of Related Art
A woman's high-heeled shoe, commonly known as “high-heels” or just “heels”, is a vital part of any woman's shoe collection. Traditional high-heels are virtually the only accepted form of footwear for a woman attending a formal or professional event. However, because high-heels have evolved and become more popular as a fashion statement, “pumps”, “stilettos”, “wedges”, and other types of casual high-heeled shoes have also achieved significant success in the marketplace.
Despite the increased popularity of high-heels and variations thereof, at least one major drawback remains. In contrast to flat-soled shoes such as sneakers or sandals where the weight of a woman's body is spread out over the entire foot, high-heeled shoes require that a woman carry more or most of her weight on the balls of her foot, thereby focusing significant pressure on the front area of the foot. For example, for flat, non-high-heeled shoes, less than 50% of the person's weight is distributed over the balls of the person's foot. However, for high-heeled shoes having at least a two-inch heel, over 70% of the person's weight may be borne by the balls of the person's foot, which is an increase of over 20%. Such discomfort may be further exacerbated as a result of the height of the heels, which elevate the person in the heel or calcaneus area of the foot. As heel height increases, the percentage of a person's weight borne by the balls of the foot also increases. The medical issues that may arise from wearing high-heels are not limited to pain in the front area of the foot, but may extend to other areas of the foot, ankle, knee, hip, and even the person's back. Moreover, high-heels may significantly alter a person's natural stance, posture, and/or gait. Not surprisingly, women commonly report pain or discomfort after walking in high-heels. However, for most women, the price of discomfort is still worth the benefits of wearing high-heels.
The structural differences between flat-heeled and high-heeled shoes are also very significant. For example, flat-heeled shoes such as sneakers allow greater flexibility and movement so that the wearer can pronate her feet. However, because high-heels are designed to increase a woman's height by slanting the foot forward and down while elevating the heel away from the ground, high-heels that are too flexible and unsupported may pose a risk of injury. Accordingly, a rigid structure may be beneficial to reduce foot, ankle, and other injuries.
Because aesthetic appeal is typically the primary driving factor in the sale of high-heeled shoes, any advancement in high-heeled shoes must be designed with aesthetic appeal in mind. Moreover, because of the structural and stylistic elements peculiar to high-heels, advancements developed for other types of footwear (e.g., sneakers) cannot simply be imported and applied to high-heels. What is needed is a high-heeled shoe that minimizes discomfort without significantly restricting the design attributes of the high-heeled shoe.
SUMMARYThis Summary is included as to introduce, in an abbreviated form, various topics to be elaborated upon below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key or essential aspects of the claimed invention. This Summary is similarly not intended for use as an aid in determining the scope of the claims.
Devices, methods, and systems discussed herein relate to a high-heeled shoe and more particularly, for providing improved comfort and/or to alleviate foot pain related to the wearing of a high-heeled shoe.
In one embodiment, a high-heeled shoe may include an insole or a top outer layer and a bottom rigid structure. The bottom rigid structure may include a front portion, a mid portion and an end portion. The front portion of the bottom rigid structure may include a cavity or cut-out portion for insertion of an encapsulated member. When the shoe is worn, the encapsulated member may expand laterally in response to an introduction of pressure on a top surface of the encapsulated member thereby dispersing pressure on the balls of the foot.
In one embodiment, the cavity for the encapsulated member may be configured to contact one side of a foam layer, while the other side of the foam layer contacts a bottom surface of the encapsulated member. In other words, the foam layer may separate the surface of the cavity from a surface of the encapsulated member.
In one embodiment, a high-heeled shoe may include a top rigid structure and a bottom layer. The top rigid structure may be shaped to have a raised end portion, a sloped mid portion and a substantially flat front portion. The top rigid structure may further include an embedded encapsulated member located within a cut-out or cavity of the top rigid structure. The bottom layer may include a flexible flat portion and a heel portion attached to a heel stake. The bottom layer may be attached to the top rigid structure such that the flexible flat portion may take the shape of the top rigid structure.
The features, obstacles, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:
Apparatus, systems, and/or methods that implement the embodiments of the various features of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. The drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate some embodiments of the present invention and not to limit the scope of the present invention. Throughout the drawings, reference numbers are re-used to indicate correspondence between referenced elements.
As used herein, the terms “front portion”, “mid portion” and “end portion” are used to describe different portions of the shoe. In some embodiments, the front portion may correspond to the area of the shoe which contacts or corresponds with a “ball of the foot” or an area between the arch and the end of the toes—which may or might not include the toes themselves. In some embodiments, the mid portion may correspond to the area of the shoe which contacts or corresponds with an arch of the foot. In some embodiments, the end portion may correspond to the area of the shoe which contacts or corresponds with a heel of the foot. Accordingly, “front portion” may be used interchangeably with “ball portion”, “mid portion” may be used interchangeably with “arch portion” and “end portion” may be used interchangeably with “heel portion”. Furthermore, as used herein, the term “rigid” includes, but is not limited to, different degrees of rigidity from semi-rigid (e.g., a durometer of 80) to very rigid (e.g., a durometer of 115), but preferably is within a durometer range of between about 80-115, and more preferably is within a durometer range of between about 90-105.
As shown in
In one embodiment, the encapsulated member 200 may be asymmetrically formed. Alternatively, the encapsulated member 200 may be configured to be symmetrical and may be a geometric (e.g., square, rectangular, triangular, trapezoidal, etc.) or non-geometric shape (e.g., shaped to mimic the footprint of a typical foot). In one embodiment, the encapsulated member 200 may have an enlarged flat base 205 including a continuous flange portion 225 about the perimeter. The continuous flange portion 225 is about one-eighths of an inch wide. However, any width (e.g., between one-sixteenth of an inch to a half of an inch) may be possible. As viewed in
In one embodiment, the encapsulated member 200 may have a flat base without any flanges (not shown). In other words, the surface area of the top surface and the surface area of the bottom surface may be equal.
Attached to the rigid base 375 is the mid portion 360. The mid portion 360 may be a thin, flexible structure for supporting the mid portion 340 of the top outer layer 330. In one embodiment, the mid portion 360 may be a thin piece of wood. Attached to the mid portion 360 is the end portion 365 of the bottom structure 350. The heel stake 320 may be attached towards the center of the end portion 365 and raise the foot off the ground.
Turning to
Several examples of different embodiments of a high-heeled shoe have been illustrated and described herein. However, the concepts described herein are not limited to the specific embodiments but may be applicable to any high-heeled sandal, shoe, boot or footwear. In addition, skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the disclosed apparatus and/or methods.
The previous description of examples is provided to enable any person of ordinary skill in the art to make or use the disclosed methods and apparatus. Various modifications to these examples will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the principles defined herein may be applied to other examples without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosed method and apparatus. The elements and uses of the above-described embodiments can be rearranged and combined in manners other than specifically described above, with any and all permutations within the scope of invention. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive and the scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope. In addition, the invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiments, and all embodiments of the invention need not necessarily achieve all the advantages or purposes or possess all characteristics identified herein.
Claims
1. A high-heeled shoe comprising:
- a bottom rigid, non-flexible structure having a ball portion located on a first geometric plane having a first slope, a mid portion located on a second geometric plane having a second slope greater than the first slope, and a heel portion located on a third geometric plane having a slope between the first slope and the second slope, the bottom rigid structure defining a cavity in the ball portion, the ball portion having a bottom surface for contacting a ground surface;
- a heel attached to the heel portion of the bottom rigid structure;
- an encapsulated gel located in the cavity of the ball portion; and
- a top layer covering the encapsulated gel and for contacting and supporting a foot of a human.
2. The high-heeled shoe of claim 1, wherein the encapsulated gel comprises an enlarged bottom surface with a continuous flange, and wherein the high heeled shoe further comprises a foam layer between a top surface of the cavity and the enlarged bottom surface of the encapsulated gel.
3. The high-heeled shoe of claim 2, wherein a surface area of the top surface of the encapsulated gel is smaller than a surface area of the enlarged bottom surface of the encapsulated gel.
4. The high-heeled shoe of claim 1, wherein each wall forming the cavity of the ball portion is rigid.
5. The high-heeled shoe of claim 1, wherein the encapsulated gel further includes an indented divider.
6. The high-heeled shoe of claim 2, wherein the continuous flange of the encapsulated gel is at least one-eighth of an inch wide.
7. The high-heeled shoe of claim 6, wherein the continuous flange of the encapsulated gel is substantially flat and has a uniform thickness about the entire perimeter of the continuous flange.
8. The high-heeled shoe of claim 7, wherein the continuous flange of the encapsulated gel creates a gap between a top surface of the encapsulated gel and each wall forming the cavity.
9. The high-heeled shoe of claim 1, wherein a rigid border surrounding the perimeter of the encapsulated gel is at least three-sixteenth of an inch thick.
10. The high-heeled shoe of claim 1, wherein the encapsulated gel is filled with a viscous fluid.
11. A high-heeled shoe comprising:
- a top rigid structure having a ball portion located on a first geometric plane having a first slope, a mid portion located on a second geometric plane having a second slope greater than the first slope, and a heel portion located on a third geometric plane having a slope between the first slope and the second slope, the top rigid structure for contacting and supporting a foot of a human, the top rigid structure further having an embedded cavity in the ball portion;
- a bottom structure coupled to the top rigid layer, the bottom structure having a flexible membrane and an attached heel stake; and
- an encapsulated gel located in the cavity of the ball portion of the top rigid structure.
12. The high-heeled shoe of claim 11, wherein the encapsulated gel comprises an enlarged bottom surface with a continuous flange, and wherein each wall forming the cavity of the front portion of the top rigid structure is non-compliant.
13. The high-heeled shoe of claim 12, wherein the continuous flange of the encapsulated gel is at least one-eighth of an inch wide.
14. The high-heeled shoe of claim 13, wherein the continuous flange of the encapsulated gel is substantially flat and has a uniform thickness about the entire perimeter of the continuous flange.
15. The high-heeled shoe of claim 14, wherein the continuous flange of the encapsulated gel creates a gap between a top surface of the encapsulated gel and each wall forming the cavity.
16. The high-heeled shoe of claim 11, wherein a rigid border surrounding the perimeter of the encapsulated gel is at least three-sixteenth of an inch thick.
17. The high-heeled shoe of claim 11, wherein the encapsulated gel is filled with a viscous fluid.
18. A high-heeled boot comprising:
- a bottom rigid base having a ball portion located on a first geometric plane having a first slope, a mid portion located on a second geometric plane having a second slope greater than the first slope, and a heel portion located on a third geometric plane, the bottom rigid base defining a cavity in the ball portion, the ball portion having a bottom surface for contacting a ground surface;
- a heel attached to the heel portion of the bottom rigid structure, the heel being at least one and a half inches in length;
- an encapsulated gel located in the cavity of the ball portion; and
- a top flexible membrane spanning at least the ball portion and the mid portion, the top flexible membrane for contacting and supporting a foot of a human; and
- a memory foam coupled to the top flexible membrane, the memory foam for cushioning the foot of the human.
19. The high-heeled boot of claim 18, wherein the encapsulated gel includes a continuous flange, and further wherein a surface area of the top surface of the encapsulated gel is smaller than a surface area of the enlarged bottom surface of the encapsulated gel.
20. The high-heeled shoe of claim 18, wherein the continuous flange of the encapsulated gel is substantially flat and has a uniform thickness about the entire perimeter of the continuous flange and further wherein the continuous flange of the encapsulated gel creates a gap between a top surface of the encapsulated gel and each of the one or more side walls forming the cavity.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 7, 2011
Publication Date: Sep 13, 2012
Inventor: Ori Rosenbaum (Laguna Beach, CA)
Application Number: 13/042,354
International Classification: A43B 21/24 (20060101);