EP2034861A1

EP2034861A1 - Sole of ergonomic shoe suiting human foot structure and walking

Info

Publication number: EP2034861A1
Application number: EP07715614A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Moon Hwan Park
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-07-05
Filing date: 2007-03-13
Publication date: 2009-03-18
Also published as: JP5138682B2; EP2034861A4; KR100748427B1; CN101484034A; US20090199432A1; JP2010505456A; WO2008004745A1; CN101484034B

Abstract

This invention relates to a highly engineered shoe sole developed to fit the natural structure of the human foot and walking gait. By inventing a shoe sole with the heightened outer part of the shoe heels and lowered on the inner part of the front portion of the sole, the shoe enables the triple-time stepping by maintaining his/her feet and the ankle aligned with the shoes when standing or walking. Also, by naturally shifting the center of the body inwards from the outer part of the shoes, thus distributing the body weight evenly to the entire area of the shoe soles, the shoes reduce fatigue on the foot by absorbing and mitigating the impact on the foot that supports the body weight, which prevents and corrects deformed walking habits such as out-toed gaits and also prevents slipping while walking.

Description

SOLE OF ERGONOMIC SHOE SUITING HUMAN FOOT STRUCTURE AND

WALKING

[Technical Field] The present invention relates to a highly engineered shoe sole developed to fit the natural structure of the human foot and walking. To be more specific, by improving the shape of the bottom part of the sole, the shoe naturally shifts the center of the body inwards from the outside of the shoe area, disperses the weight distribution evenly to the entire area of the shoe soles, thus absorbs and mitigates the impact on the foot that supports the body weight while enabling the triple-time stepping which is most idealistic walking method for our body, and also preventing and correcting deformation of our vertebra that reduces fatigue from walking and enhances physical growth, at the same time that corrects out-toed gaits into a proper walking habit.

[Discussion of Related Art]

In general, the shoe soles comprise the bottom of the shoes, and depending on types of the shoes, the heels can be separately attached or manufactured without the boundaries.

For example, the rear portions (shoe heels) of formal shoes are usually separately attached, whereas the shoe heels of athletic shoes or slippers are without partition.

Also, the back portion of the shoes can be formed as a part of the single body in a shoe sole, or can be separately attached.

Recently, there are many functional shoes introduced to correct improper walking habits and among such shoes, there are various design of which the bottom of shoe soles are formed in a gradually downward curve.

The idealistic way of walking is the triple-time stepping, but the majority of the shoes concentrate the body weight on the heels of the foot, thus delivering the impact to the vertebra that results in pain in the waist, shoulders and the neck, and also deforming the toes and increasing the fatigue from walking.

For such reasons, the applicant had suggested Korean Registered Patent No. 239854 (under the title of "Healthful Shoe") and No. 536050 (under the title of "The Shoe Soles for Triple-Time Stepping").

On the previous inventions, part of the rear portions were removed which caused pain when the cut out part strongly irritated and caused pain in the middle of the foot when the shoe is put on for long hours. Also, the cut out parts are slippery when touching the ground which can result in unintended fall.

Especially for some types of the shoes, the rear portion is formed in a downward curve which thickens the shoe sole too much and results in many problems such as limiting the function of the actual shoe heels, the variety of design and especially blunting the senses of the feet that causes more falls.

[DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION]

Therefore the invention is to resolve problems of the prior technologies stated above. The objective of the invention is to provide an ergonomically fit shoe sole for walking by differentiating the thickness of the shoe bottoms and the rear portion of the shoe sole that touches the ground from the rear part to the front part of the shoes and thus dispenses the center of the body from the outside of the shoe to the inner sole areas that absorbs and mitigates impact on the foot and induces the most proper and idealistic triple-time stepping, correcting the out-toed gaits and preventing the deformation of the vertebra.

To meet the objects stated above, a shoe sole according to an embodiment of the invention is composed by heightening the outer side more than the inner side of the rear portion bottom and lowering the inner side than the outer side of the front portion. According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided an ergonomic shoe sole which is fit for the anatomical foot structure and walking, the shoe sole including: a main body with a bottom surface that has a flattened part with a certain width from the outer side, and an inclined part that is gradually lowered from the flattened part to the inner side, and a shoe heel with the bottom surface that has a flattened part with a certain width from the inner side, and an inclined part that is raised from the flattened part towards the outer side.

Also, according to another aspect of the invention, there is provided an ergonomic shoe sole which is fit for the anatomical foot structure and walking that has a flat surface from the front end to the rear end with a distinction between a front portion and a rear portion. In this shoe shole, the bottom side of the front portion has a flattened part starting from the outer side with a certain width and an inclined part starting from the flattened part to the inner side that lowered the thickness of the sole than the flattened part, and the bottom side of the rear portion has a flattened part starting from the inner side with a certain width and an inclined part that heightened the heels toward the outer side.

[BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS] The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by describing in detail preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a shoe sole according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is an inner side view of a shoe sole for the right foot according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of a shoe sole according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A of FIG. 1; FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line B-B of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a bottom perspective view a shoe sole according to another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a side view of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a bottom view of the shoe sole according to another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line C-C of FIG. 8; FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line D-D of FIG. 8; FIG. 11 is a side view of a shoe sole with the rear portion raised in certain degrees from the ground according to another embodiment of the invention; FIG. 12 is a side view of a rear portion raised in certain degrees from the ground of a shoe sole with the bottom side of the rear portion attached to the bottom portion according to an embodiment of the invention; FIG. 13 is a bottom view of the shoe sole according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 14 is a side view of the shoe sole from the rear when standing with the shoes on according to the embodiment of the invention; FIG. 15 is a side view that illustrates the walking process when wearing the shoes that applied the shoe sole according to the embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 16 to 19 are rear views illustrating the walking process when wearing the shoes which applied the shoe sole according to the embodiment of the invention; and FIGS. 20 to 21 are views illustrating the impact absorption and mitigation by the space between a flattened part and a spatial part. Reference Numerals

[DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION] The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown.

This invention relates to a shoe sole that naturally disperses the center of the body from the outside of the shoe bottom to the inner areas that absorbs and mitigates the impact when walking, by improving the design of the shoe sole bottom.

The shoe sole refers to the part of the shoe that directly contacts the ground, and the shoe sole is variously formed according to each of its type.

For example, the bottom of leather shoes consists of the front portion and the staged rear portion which is heightened to form the shoe heel, whereas the bottom of shoes such as athletic shoes have are flattened from the front portion to the rear portion of the shoes.

In cases for the bottom of the athletic shoes, it is common that the surface of the shoe bottoms are embossed to prevent slipping.

As for the shoe bottoms with heightened heels, they show staged forms due to the heightened levels of the rear portions of the shoe bottom according to the defined height of the shoe heels.

In such cases, the rear portions can be manufactured as a single body with the bottom or may be separately formed and firmly attached to the shoe bottom in the heel part.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the structure of an embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 2 is an inner side view of a shoe sole according to an embodiment of the invention.

The shoe shown on the figures is the right-foot shoe, referring from the big toe to the heel of the foot as the 'inner side' and from the little toe to the heel of the foot as the Outer side'.

This embodiment is a shoe sole with the shoe heel 20 with a certain height attached to the main body 10 of the shoe sole, and such typical shoes with the shoe heel 20 are the formal leather shoes.

In such cases, the surface of the main body 10 is attached to the upper surface of the shoe heel 20, thus the shoe sole is shaped to be heightened toward the rear portion while keeping the bottom surface of the main body 10 and the shoe heel 20 leveled with the ground surface to have simultaneous contact with the ground.

The most significant features of the shoe sole are that the bottom part of the main body 10 and the shoe heel 20 are partially inclined upward or downward both on the vertical direction and horizontal direction of the sole bottom.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the shoe sole according to the embodiment of the invention, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional diagram of the FIG. 1 along the A-A line and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional diagram of the FIG. 1 along the B-B line.

As illustrated, this embodiment of the invention relates to the improvements made to the bottom surfaces of the main body 10 and the shoe heel 20 from the conventional shoe bottoms that maintains a leveled surfaces with the flat ground. To be more specific, the bottom surface of the main body 10 is gradually lowered (by reducing the thickness of the sole) from the outer side to the inner side, and the bottom surface of the shoe heel 20 is gradually heightened from the inner side to the outer side.

To explain this in more detail, the bottom surface of the main body 10 that comprises the front portion of the shoe maintains a flattened part 11 with a certain width starting from the outer side toward the inner side.

The bottom surface of the main body 10 of a customary shoe is usually shaped in a downward curve from the front portion to the shoe heel 20 but keeps the flattened bottom surface with the same height of the sole thickness from the inner side to the outer side.

Comparing with the conventional shoes, the bottom surface of the main body 10 between the inner side and the outer side of this embodiment of the invention is featured with a flattened part 11 of a certain width starting from the outer side of the bottom surface, and then gradually lowering the height of the sole from the flattened part 11 toward the inner part, thus shaping an inclined part 12 lower than the flattened part 11. In other words, bottom surface of the main body 10 is gradually inclined from the flattened part 11 toward the inner side of the shoe by lowering the height of the shoe sole, forming the inclined part 12.

On the other hand, the rear portion (shoe heel) 20 is oppositely designed from the main body 10, to form a flattened part 21 with a certain width starting from the inner side of the sole, gradually inclined toward the outer side of the shoe heels by heightening the heel, thus forming an inclined part 22.

The width of the flattened part 11, 21 on the bottom surface of the main body 10 and the shoe heel 20 should consist about 1/3 part of the width between both lateral sides, starting from one side of the sole, and the most desirable height difference between the flattened part 11, 21 and the inclined part 12, 22 is l~7mm.

On this embodiment, it is more desirable for the shoe sole of the inclined part

12, 22 to be gradually lowered by reducing the thickness of the sole toward the front portion of the bottom surface of the main body 10, and to gradually heighten the shoe sole by increasing the thickness of the sole toward the rear portion 20 of the shoe as pointed out by the direction of the arrow on FIG. 3.

In this structure, the bottom surface of the rear portion 20 is connected to the lowest bottom surface of the main body 10 and can be formed without boundary.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating the structure of another embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 7 is a side view of FIG. 6. In this embodiment of the invention, the rear portion 20 that obtrudes with a certain height from the bottom surface of the main body 100 is trimmed off and the bottom surface of the shoe sole that was all flat from the front part to the rear part is improved for walking.

In this embodiment of the invention, the surface of the main body 100 is spread evenly, and the front portion 110 is defined from a certain reference point of the sole to the toe and the rear portion 120 is defined from that reference point to the tip of the shoe heel. And on the bottom, one part of each portion is gradually curved downwards at the length direction.

The shoes with sections divided into front portion 110 and rear portion 120 yet have flattened bottom surface are mostly athletic shoes, sandals and etc.

FIG. 8 is a bottom view of the shoe sole according to another embodiment of the invention.

As illustrated, there can be a certain boundary between the front portion 110 and the rear portion 120 but there can be no evident boundary, and on this embodiment, those portions are defined with a certain discretionary ratio of the shoe length.

The border 130 that divides the front portion 110 and the rear portion 120 is a virtual border that is not shown.

The feature of this embodiment is that the inclined part of the bottom surfaces of the front portion 110 and the rear portion 120 are diagonally placed to raise or lower the shoe sole.

FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 are cross-sectional views taken along the C-C line and the D-D Line of FIG. 8.

As illustrated, the front portion 110 and the rear portion 120 are divided by the border 130 as shown in another embodiment of the invention, and with this border 130 as the reference line, the outer side bottom surface of the front portion 110 has a certain width of a flattened part 111 and the rest of other part at the bottom is gradually lowered toward the inner side which forms the inclined part 112.

The rear portion 120 from the border 130 to the tip of the heel has a flattened part 121 starting from the inner side with a certain width and an inclined part 122 starting from the flattened part 121 to the outer side by gradually lowering the shoe sole outwards. The idealistic ratio of the division that consists the border 130 between the front portion 110 and the rear portion 120 of the main body 100 should be 65-70% : 30-35%. It is idealistic for the flattened parts 111 and 121 of the front portion 110 and the rear portion 120 to take 1/3 of the width from each lateral side, and height difference between the flattened part 111, 121 and the inclined part 112, 122 to be 1-7 mm.

In this embodiment of the invention, it is desirable for the height of the sole to be gradually lowered toward the toe of the front portion 110 and the height of the heel gradually raised toward the tip of the shoe heel 120.

Also, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 11, it is also desirable to form the rear portion 120 to be raised by 10~20° from the ground.

In case of leather shoes with shoe heel 20, it can be formed as a single body with the main body 10 as illustrated on FIG. 12.

When the shoe heel 20 and the rear portion 120 is raised by 10-20° from the ground, as shown in the FIGS. 11 to 13, the attached part of the bottom surface of the main body 10 and the shoe heel 20 and the attached part of the front portion 110 and the rear portion 120 can be indented, forming indents 13 and 131 to a certain depth. Especially when the shoe heel 20 or the rear portion 120 is raised on a certain degree from the ground, it should be connected to the bottom surfaces of the main body 10 and the rear portion 110 in a smooth curve without edges.

If the user stands naturally while wearing the shoes with the shoe sole according to this embodiment, the shoes will be aligned inwards as shown in FIG. 14. And as the shoes are aligned inward, fatigues are also reduced due to the weight also being gathered inward.

So, the weight is distributed to both feet when standing, but on each shoe, the weight is gathered inwards that prevents the weight from being dispersed, enabling it more safe and comfortable to wear them. Also, in a standing posture, the feet are very slightly tilted inwards from the foot heel where weight is supported the most to the main body 10 or front portion 110 that gathers the feet.

The feet touches the ground with an angle that is similar to the angle formed by the both feet when seen from above, thus the gravity on both feet is balanced and the pressure on each foot is reduced when both feet are gathered inwards.

FIG. 15 is a side view illustrating the walking process with the shoes that has applied shoe soles whose rear portions are raised from the ground according to the embodiment of the invention, and FIGS. 16 to 19 are rear views illustating the status when walking with the shoes on.

When walking, the back part of the shoe heel 20 or the rear portion 120 touches the ground first, which is different from standing. When the body weight presses the foot as it touches the ground, the shoe heel

20 or the rear portion 120 of the shoe touches the ground naturally from the outer side with higher sole thickness to the inner side with lower sole thickness, gathering the feet inwards.

As the body moves forward, the weight supported by the shoe increases, so the shoe induces the steps that places the feet in a paralleled line opposed to out-toed steps when the shoe heal 20 or the rear portion 120 is brought into close contact with the ground.

When the body weight is passed down to the shoe heel 20 or the rear portion 120, the ankle is stretched out straight that dramatically relieves ankle from the body weight pressure.

When the flattened part and the inclined part touch the ground at the same time, the boundary of those parts are slightly lifted from the ground at a certain height, forming a space S as illustrated in FIG. 20, and the lifted surface touches the ground when body weight is passed to the feet as shown in FIG. 21. Therefore, as the body weight is supported, the impact on the foot when touching the ground can be absorbed and mitigated by the lifted space that acts like a cushion, also absorbing and mitigating the impact on the ankle.

As the area that contacts the ground moves forward from the shoe heel 20 or rear portion 120 to the front portion, the body weight pressure is transferred naturally from the flattened part 21 of the shoe heel 20 or the flattened part 121 of the rear portion

120 to the flattened part 11 of the main body 10 or the flattened part 111 of the front portion 110, evenly distributing the body weight to the both feet.

The center of the body is moved to front of the shoe as it is transferred to the flattened part 11 of the main body 10 or the flattened part 111 of the front portion 110, so the body weight pressure is gradually lessened on the shoe.

Thus, at the moment just before the shoe takes off from the ground, the shoe is twisted more inward as the inner side of the front part of the main body 10 or the front portion 110 which has the smallest sole thickness.

By gathering the shoes inward when walking, the shoe provides flexibility and minimizes the pressure of the body weight to the ankle.

If the pressure from the body weight is minimized, the foot is less fatigued even when walking for a long time, can maximize prevention of slipping, and also prevent and at the same time correct the deformed walking postures so called the out- toed gait.

Especially by walking properly in for a long time, we can prevent deformation of our vertebra and at the same time correct the deformation itself, reduces fatigue during long walks and also providing the triple-time stepping which is the most idealistic way of walking for the human body that walks upright.

As stated above, the shoe sole provides an idealistic triple-time stepping by aligning the feet, ankle and the shoe in a straight line when walking or standing due to raising the rear portion from the inner side to the outer side, and lowering the front portion of the sole from the outer side to the inner side.

Also this invention naturally moves the center of the body from the outside of the shoe to the inside area of the shoe and distributes the weight on the entire shoe area that absorbs and mitigates the impact and reduces fatigue, prevents and corrects deformed walking habits such as out-toed gaits and prevents slipping. This invention has a very useful effect of providing an ergonomic shoe sole that is designed to fit the anatomical structure of the foot and walking that constantly and naturally maintains proper walking habits that prevents and corrects deformed vertebra.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. An ergonomic shoe sole which is fit for the anatomical foot structure and walking, the shoe sole comprising: a main body 10 with a bottom surface that has a flattened part 11 with a certain width from the outer side, and an inclined part 12 that is gradually lowered from the flattened part 12 to the inner side, and a shoe heel 20 with the bottom surface that has a flattened part 21 with a certain width from the inner side, and an inclined part 21 that is raised from the flattened part 21 towards the outer side.

2. The ergonomic shoe sole which is fit for the anatomical foot structure and walking according to claim 1, wherein the flattened parts 11 and 21 on the bottom surface of the main body 10 and the shoe heel 20 are placed diagonally with the 1/3 width of the shoe sole width from one side and the inclined parts 12 and 22 are placed diagonally with the 2/3 width of the shoe sole width from the other side.

3. The ergonomic shoe sole which is fit for the anatomical foot structure and walking according to claim 1, wherein the height difference from the flattened part 11, 21 to the inclined part

11, 21 either heightened or lowered is 1 to 7 mm.

4. The ergonomic shoe sole which is fit for the anatomical foot structure and walking according to claim 1, wherein a distinct edged boundary does not exist between the bottom surface of the shoe heel 20 and the main body 10.

5. The ergonomic shoe sole which is fit for the anatomical foot structure and walking according to claim 4, wherein the shoe heel 20 is raised 10 to 20° from the ground.

6. The ergonomic shoe sole which is fit for the anatomical foot structure and walking according to claim 4, wherein indented parts with a certain size and depth are formed on the each lateral side of the shoe sole at the connected boundary of the main body 10 and the shoe heel 20.

7. The ergonomic shoe sole which is fit for the anatomical foot structure and walking according to claim 1, wherein a lifted space S with a certain height from the ground is formed when the flattened part 11, 21 and the inclined part 12, 22 touch the ground.

8. An ergonomic shoe sole which is fit for the anatomical foot structure and walking that has a flat surface from the front end to the rear end with a distinction between a front portion 110 and a rear portion 120, wherein the bottom side of the front portion 110 has a flattened part 111 starting from the outer side with a certain width and an inclined part 112 starting from the flattened part 111 to the inner side that lowered the thickness of the sole than the flattened part 111, and the bottom side of the rear portion 120 has a flattened part 121 starting from the inner side with a certain width and an inclined part 122 that heightened the heels toward the outer side.

9. The shoe sole according to claim 8, wherein the front portion 110 and the rear portion 120 have a proportion of 65-67 % : 33-35 % with respect.

10. The ergonomic shoe sole which is fit for the anatomical foot structure and walking according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the flattened parts 111 and 121 are formed to have 1/3 width of the shoe sole from one side, and the inclined parts 121 and 222 are formed to have 2/3 width of the shoe shole from the other side which are placed diagonally in the front portion and the rear portion respectively.

11. The ergonomic shoe sole which is fit for the anatomical foot structure and walking according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the height difference from the flattened part 111, 121 to the inclined part 112, 122 either heightened or lowered is 1 to 7 mm.

12. The ergonomic shoe sole which is fit for the anatomical foot structure and walking according to claim 8, wherein the rear portion 120 is raised 10 to 20° from the ground.

13. The ergonomic shoe sole which is fit for the anatomical foot structure and walking according to claim 8, wherein indented parts with a certain size and depth are formed on the each lateral side of the shoe sole at the connected part of the front portion 110 and the rear portion 120.

14. The ergonomic shoe sole which is fit for the anatomical foot structure and walking according to claim 8, wherein a lifted space S with a certain height from the ground is formed when the flattened part 111, 121 and the inclined part 112, 122 touch the ground.

15. An ergonomic shoe sole which is fit for the anatomical foot structure and walking, the shoe shoe comprising: a rear sole whose bottom side has more thickness on the outer side than the inner side, and a front sole whose bottom side has less thickness on the inner side than the outer side.