CA1237276A - Method of fitting ski boots - Google Patents
Method of fitting ski bootsInfo
- Publication number
- CA1237276A CA1237276A CA000500577A CA500577A CA1237276A CA 1237276 A CA1237276 A CA 1237276A CA 000500577 A CA000500577 A CA 000500577A CA 500577 A CA500577 A CA 500577A CA 1237276 A CA1237276 A CA 1237276A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- skier
- boots
- boot
- ski
- foot
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 title claims abstract description 21
- 210000003127 knee Anatomy 0.000 claims abstract description 13
- 210000002683 foot Anatomy 0.000 abstract description 26
- 210000002414 leg Anatomy 0.000 abstract description 6
- 210000003423 ankle Anatomy 0.000 abstract description 2
- 210000003484 anatomy Anatomy 0.000 description 4
- 210000004417 patella Anatomy 0.000 description 3
- 238000000926 separation method Methods 0.000 description 3
- 230000004075 alteration Effects 0.000 description 2
- 241000270281 Coluber constrictor Species 0.000 description 1
- 230000027455 binding Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000009739 binding Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000010586 diagram Methods 0.000 description 1
- OQZCSNDVOWYALR-UHFFFAOYSA-N flurochloridone Chemical compound FC(F)(F)C1=CC=CC(N2C(C(Cl)C(CCl)C2)=O)=C1 OQZCSNDVOWYALR-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 210000001255 hallux Anatomy 0.000 description 1
- 230000007935 neutral effect Effects 0.000 description 1
Landscapes
- Footwear And Its Accessory, Manufacturing Method And Apparatuses (AREA)
Abstract
ABSTRACT
A method of fitting ski boots to a skier by standing the skier in the boots on orthotics with the skier's feet ankles and legs unconfined by the boots, recording the relative lateral locations of the skier's knees and boots, repeating the process with the skier's feet supported on the orthotics and confined by the boots, and adjusting the boots to provide the same relative lateral locations of knee and boot.
A method of fitting ski boots to a skier by standing the skier in the boots on orthotics with the skier's feet ankles and legs unconfined by the boots, recording the relative lateral locations of the skier's knees and boots, repeating the process with the skier's feet supported on the orthotics and confined by the boots, and adjusting the boots to provide the same relative lateral locations of knee and boot.
Description
1 ~37~76 METHOD OF FITTING SKI BOOTS
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
This invention relates to a method of adjusting ski boots to the anatomy of an individual skier in order that the skier can achieve ideal performance from the boot.
Modern ski boots have a relatively flexible inner bladder and a relatively rigid outer shell, and the outer shell has a foot portion which supports the skier's foot and a cuff port;on which supports the skier's shin. The foot portion has a sole adapted to engage the ski and support surfaces designed to enqage safety bindings. Some of the boots have the foot and cuff made from a single piece, but most boots have the foot and cuff made from different pieces connected by some means designed to control the relative position or movement of the two pieces.
Thus, when the skier's foot is supported firmly in the boot and the boot is supported on the ski, it is desirable to control the forward lean and canting of the skier's leg. Forward lean is measured in a plane which is longitudinal of the ski perpendicular to the ski's running surface, and control of forward lean is desirable to keep the skier's weight balanced and forward over the skis. Canting is measured in a plane which is transverse of the ski, and control of canting is important because changes in the canting angle determine whether the inside or outside edge of the ski predominates when the skier is running straight on a flat slope.
This invention relates to a method of adjusting the ski boot to the anatomy of the skier in order that canting can be controlled exactly so that the skier can have a perfectly balanced ski with neither inner or outer edge predominating over the other when the skier is running straight on a flat slope. The method can ~D
~23t7276 also be used to adjust the ski to provide a precise predetermined cant fitted to the skier's anatomy where the skier desires to have predominant inner edges, but a ski racer will generally perform better with neutral inner and outer edqes, because a predominant edqe adds drag.
Canting of ski boots has heen controlled in the past by a variety of methods with varying degrees of inaccuracy. Thus, canting has been controlled by shimming, or shaving wedges from, ski boots until a plumb hanqing from the skier's kneecap hanqs over his big toe. .Some ski boots are provided with a cantinq adjustment between the foot and cuff to permit the skier to ad~ust the canting angle to whatever anqle feels best. Sometimes canting has been done by recording the location of a plumb under the skier's knee while the skier stands in ski boots from which the bladders have been removed, and then shavinq wedges from the boots to obtain the same plumb locations when the skier stands in the boots with the bladders in place; where this method has been used, the boots have first been altered to align the cuff perpendicular to the foot portion of the boot removing any initial canting angle which has been built into the boot.
These methods achieve varying degrees of accuracy and differing results with different kinds of boots.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
In accordance with this invention, exact control of canting is achieved consistently with a wide variety of different ski boot designs. This is accomplished using an orthotic designed to correct the skier's natural stance. A variety of such orthotics may be used where the orthotic is medically designed to fit the skier's anatomy to a flat plane with a proper stance. Any generic arch in the ski boot is removed to ~2~7~71~
the extent that the orthotic does not compensate for it.
The skier's feet supported on orthotics are supported in the foot portions of the boots from which the bladders have been removed with the leq laterally unconfined. Preliminary alteration of the boot to eliminate canting angles is not ahsolutely necessary, so the method can be used with one piece boots and without changinq the initial setting of a canting adjustment in such an adjustable boot. ~lith the skier's feet thus supported and the feet spaced apart by the distance the skier normally uses durinq skiinq, the lateral position of the skier's knee with respect to the foot portion of the boot is recorded.
Then the skier's feet are firmly supported on the orthotics in the boots with the bladders in place and with the boots at the same spacing to produce a second lateral location of the knee to each boot. In this step of the method, the orthotics may be mounted inside the bladder where they are worn during skiing whereas the orthotics were mounted directly in the shell of the boot in the first step of the method.
Finally, the outer shells of the boots are altered to make the second lateral location equal to the lateral location recorded earlier.
The alteration of the shell of the boot is preferably accomplished by adjustinq a canting angle adjustment mechanism if one is provided in the boot~
DRTAILED DR~;CRIPTION
These and other features of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken with the attached drawings in which:
Fiqure 1 is a perspective diagram illustrating a skier's foot in a ski boot with the forward lean and canting angles indicated;
~ ~7276 Figure 2 is a ~air of cross-sectional c1iagrams illustrating the -first step of the method of this invention;
Figure 3 is a pair of cross-sectional diaqrams like Figure 2 illustratinq the second step in the method this invention;
Figure 4 is a pair of cross-sectional diaqrams like Figures 2 and 3 illustratinq the final step in the method this invention;
Figure 5 is an exploded view of a prior art right boot which ma~ be used in the method of this invention, and Fiqure ~ is an elevational view of a portion of the left boot matching Fiqure 5 with the parts assembled.
Referrinq now in detail to the drawing, the skier's foot 10 is supported on an orthotic 12 inside the bladder 14 of a ski boot 16. The foot portion of the boot is indicated at 16a, and the cuff portion of the boot is indicated at 16b. The skier's leg is supported by the boot in a plane inclined to the vertical by the canting angle 18, and the leg is inclined in this plane by the forward lean anqle 20.
In accordance with this invention, the boot is adjusted to the skier's stance as the skier's natural stance has been corrected medically by the orthotic in the following way. The bladders are removed from the boots and the skier stood in the boots on his orthotics. Note that with the bladders removed the boots are sufficiently loose around the skier's feet and legs so that the skier s feet, ankles and legs are unconfined by the boots. ~oth boots are used at the same time thouqh only one boot is shown in the drawings, and the skier stands in the hoots with his normal skiing foot separation and his normal skiing forward lean angle.
~X~37Z~6 This condition is illustrated in Fiqure 2, and in this condition the relative lateral location of the skier's leq or knee and the boot is recorded. This can be done in a number of ways, but it can be done conveniently by suspending a plumb 22 from the skier's kneecap and making a mark on the boot where the plumb strikes. The plumb 22 may be suspended on a string 24, and the string is supported adjacent to a predetermined point on the skier's kneecap.
With the initial relative position of the knee and boot record~, the process is repeated with the skier's feet and orthotics ~ully supported in the boots. Aqain both boots are used with the skier standinq w~th the same foot separation and forward lean. As indicated in Figure 3, the confinement of the boots will normally produce a different relative position of the foot and boot as inflicated by the separation 26 between the string 24 and the vertical plane 28 throuqh the mark made on the boot in the first step.
The change in relative lateral location of the knee and boot is noted, and the boots are adjusted to return the relative lateral location of the knee and boot to the original condition noted in step one. As explained above, this adjustment is preferably ~ade by adjusting a canting adjustment in the boot if one is provided, and in that case the adjustment may be made by another person while the skier is standing in the condition of Figure 2 with the ad~ustment continued until the condition of Figure 3 is reached where the original relative lateral location of knee and boot is achieved.
One form of boot adjustment which may be used in this way is the adjustment mechanism shown in U.S.
Patent No. 3,739,498. Alternatively, adjustment can be made with the boots shown in Figures 5 and 6 which are sold as Lange Model ZT boots.
~L~37~76 The canting adjustment in the boots of Fiqures 5 and 6 is used b~ looseninq a nut 30 so that the cuff 16b can pivot, while pin 32 mounted in the foot portion 16a, moves in a slot 34 in the cuff 16b. A pointer 36 operates with a scale 38 to record the cuff adjustrnent, and the nut 30 is locked when the proper cantinq angle is obtained.
Where the skier's boots are not provided with a canting angle adjustment mechanism, the adiustment can be made by mechanical adjustment of the boot. For instance a wedge of material may be placed inside one side of the cuff of the boot with the magnitude of the wedge determined to be ~ust sufficient to return the knee and boot to their original relative lateral locations.
Where the boots are not provided with an adjustment rnechanism for the canting angle, and the angle is made by alterinq the boot as explained above, it may be desirable to remove any initial canting angle built into the boot if this can be done without injuring the boots. Thus, some ski boots are provided with a built in canting angle of three deqrees on the assumption that three degrees is a good average cantinq angle for average skiers, and that angle can be removed easily on some boots simply by relocating the hinqe pins between the foot and cuff ~ortions of the boots.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
This invention relates to a method of adjusting ski boots to the anatomy of an individual skier in order that the skier can achieve ideal performance from the boot.
Modern ski boots have a relatively flexible inner bladder and a relatively rigid outer shell, and the outer shell has a foot portion which supports the skier's foot and a cuff port;on which supports the skier's shin. The foot portion has a sole adapted to engage the ski and support surfaces designed to enqage safety bindings. Some of the boots have the foot and cuff made from a single piece, but most boots have the foot and cuff made from different pieces connected by some means designed to control the relative position or movement of the two pieces.
Thus, when the skier's foot is supported firmly in the boot and the boot is supported on the ski, it is desirable to control the forward lean and canting of the skier's leg. Forward lean is measured in a plane which is longitudinal of the ski perpendicular to the ski's running surface, and control of forward lean is desirable to keep the skier's weight balanced and forward over the skis. Canting is measured in a plane which is transverse of the ski, and control of canting is important because changes in the canting angle determine whether the inside or outside edge of the ski predominates when the skier is running straight on a flat slope.
This invention relates to a method of adjusting the ski boot to the anatomy of the skier in order that canting can be controlled exactly so that the skier can have a perfectly balanced ski with neither inner or outer edge predominating over the other when the skier is running straight on a flat slope. The method can ~D
~23t7276 also be used to adjust the ski to provide a precise predetermined cant fitted to the skier's anatomy where the skier desires to have predominant inner edges, but a ski racer will generally perform better with neutral inner and outer edqes, because a predominant edqe adds drag.
Canting of ski boots has heen controlled in the past by a variety of methods with varying degrees of inaccuracy. Thus, canting has been controlled by shimming, or shaving wedges from, ski boots until a plumb hanqing from the skier's kneecap hanqs over his big toe. .Some ski boots are provided with a cantinq adjustment between the foot and cuff to permit the skier to ad~ust the canting angle to whatever anqle feels best. Sometimes canting has been done by recording the location of a plumb under the skier's knee while the skier stands in ski boots from which the bladders have been removed, and then shavinq wedges from the boots to obtain the same plumb locations when the skier stands in the boots with the bladders in place; where this method has been used, the boots have first been altered to align the cuff perpendicular to the foot portion of the boot removing any initial canting angle which has been built into the boot.
These methods achieve varying degrees of accuracy and differing results with different kinds of boots.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
In accordance with this invention, exact control of canting is achieved consistently with a wide variety of different ski boot designs. This is accomplished using an orthotic designed to correct the skier's natural stance. A variety of such orthotics may be used where the orthotic is medically designed to fit the skier's anatomy to a flat plane with a proper stance. Any generic arch in the ski boot is removed to ~2~7~71~
the extent that the orthotic does not compensate for it.
The skier's feet supported on orthotics are supported in the foot portions of the boots from which the bladders have been removed with the leq laterally unconfined. Preliminary alteration of the boot to eliminate canting angles is not ahsolutely necessary, so the method can be used with one piece boots and without changinq the initial setting of a canting adjustment in such an adjustable boot. ~lith the skier's feet thus supported and the feet spaced apart by the distance the skier normally uses durinq skiinq, the lateral position of the skier's knee with respect to the foot portion of the boot is recorded.
Then the skier's feet are firmly supported on the orthotics in the boots with the bladders in place and with the boots at the same spacing to produce a second lateral location of the knee to each boot. In this step of the method, the orthotics may be mounted inside the bladder where they are worn during skiing whereas the orthotics were mounted directly in the shell of the boot in the first step of the method.
Finally, the outer shells of the boots are altered to make the second lateral location equal to the lateral location recorded earlier.
The alteration of the shell of the boot is preferably accomplished by adjustinq a canting angle adjustment mechanism if one is provided in the boot~
DRTAILED DR~;CRIPTION
These and other features of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken with the attached drawings in which:
Fiqure 1 is a perspective diagram illustrating a skier's foot in a ski boot with the forward lean and canting angles indicated;
~ ~7276 Figure 2 is a ~air of cross-sectional c1iagrams illustrating the -first step of the method of this invention;
Figure 3 is a pair of cross-sectional diaqrams like Figure 2 illustratinq the second step in the method this invention;
Figure 4 is a pair of cross-sectional diaqrams like Figures 2 and 3 illustratinq the final step in the method this invention;
Figure 5 is an exploded view of a prior art right boot which ma~ be used in the method of this invention, and Fiqure ~ is an elevational view of a portion of the left boot matching Fiqure 5 with the parts assembled.
Referrinq now in detail to the drawing, the skier's foot 10 is supported on an orthotic 12 inside the bladder 14 of a ski boot 16. The foot portion of the boot is indicated at 16a, and the cuff portion of the boot is indicated at 16b. The skier's leg is supported by the boot in a plane inclined to the vertical by the canting angle 18, and the leg is inclined in this plane by the forward lean anqle 20.
In accordance with this invention, the boot is adjusted to the skier's stance as the skier's natural stance has been corrected medically by the orthotic in the following way. The bladders are removed from the boots and the skier stood in the boots on his orthotics. Note that with the bladders removed the boots are sufficiently loose around the skier's feet and legs so that the skier s feet, ankles and legs are unconfined by the boots. ~oth boots are used at the same time thouqh only one boot is shown in the drawings, and the skier stands in the hoots with his normal skiing foot separation and his normal skiing forward lean angle.
~X~37Z~6 This condition is illustrated in Fiqure 2, and in this condition the relative lateral location of the skier's leq or knee and the boot is recorded. This can be done in a number of ways, but it can be done conveniently by suspending a plumb 22 from the skier's kneecap and making a mark on the boot where the plumb strikes. The plumb 22 may be suspended on a string 24, and the string is supported adjacent to a predetermined point on the skier's kneecap.
With the initial relative position of the knee and boot record~, the process is repeated with the skier's feet and orthotics ~ully supported in the boots. Aqain both boots are used with the skier standinq w~th the same foot separation and forward lean. As indicated in Figure 3, the confinement of the boots will normally produce a different relative position of the foot and boot as inflicated by the separation 26 between the string 24 and the vertical plane 28 throuqh the mark made on the boot in the first step.
The change in relative lateral location of the knee and boot is noted, and the boots are adjusted to return the relative lateral location of the knee and boot to the original condition noted in step one. As explained above, this adjustment is preferably ~ade by adjusting a canting adjustment in the boot if one is provided, and in that case the adjustment may be made by another person while the skier is standing in the condition of Figure 2 with the ad~ustment continued until the condition of Figure 3 is reached where the original relative lateral location of knee and boot is achieved.
One form of boot adjustment which may be used in this way is the adjustment mechanism shown in U.S.
Patent No. 3,739,498. Alternatively, adjustment can be made with the boots shown in Figures 5 and 6 which are sold as Lange Model ZT boots.
~L~37~76 The canting adjustment in the boots of Fiqures 5 and 6 is used b~ looseninq a nut 30 so that the cuff 16b can pivot, while pin 32 mounted in the foot portion 16a, moves in a slot 34 in the cuff 16b. A pointer 36 operates with a scale 38 to record the cuff adjustrnent, and the nut 30 is locked when the proper cantinq angle is obtained.
Where the skier's boots are not provided with a canting angle adjustment mechanism, the adiustment can be made by mechanical adjustment of the boot. For instance a wedge of material may be placed inside one side of the cuff of the boot with the magnitude of the wedge determined to be ~ust sufficient to return the knee and boot to their original relative lateral locations.
Where the boots are not provided with an adjustment rnechanism for the canting angle, and the angle is made by alterinq the boot as explained above, it may be desirable to remove any initial canting angle built into the boot if this can be done without injuring the boots. Thus, some ski boots are provided with a built in canting angle of three deqrees on the assumption that three degrees is a good average cantinq angle for average skiers, and that angle can be removed easily on some boots simply by relocating the hinqe pins between the foot and cuff ~ortions of the boots.
Claims (2)
1. The method of adjusting the lateral canting of a ski boot of a skier where the boot has an outer shell and an inner removable bladder and where the skier has an orthotic adapted to correct the stance of the skier which method comprises:
standing the skier in a first condition on the orthotic in the outer shell of the boot with the bladder removed and recording the lateral location of the skier's knee with respect to the shell, standing the skier in a second condition on the orthotic in the ski boot while the bladder is supported in the shell with a second lateral location of the skier's knee with respect to the shell, and altering the outer shell of the boot to adjust the lateral location in the second condition to be the same as the lateral location in the first condition.
standing the skier in a first condition on the orthotic in the outer shell of the boot with the bladder removed and recording the lateral location of the skier's knee with respect to the shell, standing the skier in a second condition on the orthotic in the ski boot while the bladder is supported in the shell with a second lateral location of the skier's knee with respect to the shell, and altering the outer shell of the boot to adjust the lateral location in the second condition to be the same as the lateral location in the first condition.
2. The method of claim 1 in which the outer shell has a foot portion adapted to support the skier's foot and a cuff portion adapted to support the skier's shin with adjusting means interconnecting the foot and cuff portions, and the altering step is performed by adjusting the adjusting means.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000500577A CA1237276A (en) | 1986-01-29 | 1986-01-29 | Method of fitting ski boots |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000500577A CA1237276A (en) | 1986-01-29 | 1986-01-29 | Method of fitting ski boots |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1237276A true CA1237276A (en) | 1988-05-31 |
Family
ID=4132360
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000500577A Expired CA1237276A (en) | 1986-01-29 | 1986-01-29 | Method of fitting ski boots |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1237276A (en) |
-
1986
- 1986-01-29 CA CA000500577A patent/CA1237276A/en not_active Expired
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| MKEX | Expiry |