GB2256121A

GB2256121A - Orthopaedic insole

Info

Publication number: GB2256121A
Application number: GB9208469A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Tuomo Hyvaerinen; Reima Juhani Romo
Original assignee: Karhu Titan Oy
Current assignee: Karhu Titan Oy
Priority date: 1991-05-29
Filing date: 1992-04-16
Publication date: 1992-12-02
Also published as: JPH05154007A; GB9208469D0; CA2069163A1; FI912588A; FI912588A0; DE4217413A1; FR2676919A1

Description

-1 C_ 2 S 61 1 1 Orthopaedic insole for a foot is The invention concerns

an orthopaedic insole for a foot in shoes, which orthopaedic insole is intended to correct faulty postures of a foot by supporting the foot in the 1 way required by the correction of the faulty posture.

In a mechanical examination, a human foot is a highly complicated construction, for, on one hand, the foot must be resilient in order that it could adapt itself to the variations in the environment and in the ground, however, so that, at the same time, it provides the body with adequate support and balance. On the other hand, the foot should, however, be sufficiently rigid to provide an adequate friction in relation to the ground surface, so that the horizontal forces of acceleration and deceleration that arise from the movements of the body can be transferred through the foot.

A number of studies have been performed concerning the foot, and in these studies it has been noticed that only about 40 % of people have so-called "normal" feet, whereas the rest have various faults of posture in their feet. Faulty postures of feet cause a disturbance in the state of loading of the body and a state of extra strain, which is experienced by the person as disagreeable and which may quite frequently result in pains in the foot, ankle, knee, or in the lumbar region of the back. Faulty postures of feet are commonly corrected by means of various orthopaedic insoles and orthopaedic shoes, and, in recent years, attempts have been made to develop methods for the selection of such orthopaedic insoles and shoes.

Usually, an orthopaedic insole that regulates the functioning of a foot is manufactured in a certain standard shape. For each type of functioning of a foot, there is a separate insole model of its own. This is why, for the manufacture, a series of moulds of its own is required for each model. In such a case, the manufacturer and the retail dealer must keep all models of every size on stock, which results in a high increase in the costs of manufacture and sale both for the manufacturer and for the retail dealer.

2 The object of the present invention is to provide an orthopaedic insole of a novel type, by whose means the number of the series of moulds needed in the manufacture of the orthopaedic insoles and the number of stockitems of finished products are reduced. In view of achieving this, the invention is mainly characterized in that the orthopaedic insole comprises a body of the insole and an adjusting piece separate from the body, which adjusting piece is supposed to be attached to a space formed for said adjusting piece into the bottom face of the insole body.

The most important advantage of the invention over the prior-art orthopaedic insoles is exactly therein that the body of the insole can be manufactured as identical for all foot types, in which case an essentially lower number of series of moulds are required. The correction required by the type of functioning of the foot can be produced by means of a separate adjusting piece, which can be attached to the body of the insole and which adjusting piece makes the insole suitable for foots of different types of functioning. The further advantages and characteristic features of the invention come out from the following detailed description of the invention.

In the following, the invention will be described by way of example with reference to the figures in the accompanying drawing.

Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of the body of an orthopaedic insole accordance with the invention and of an adjusting piece to be attached to same.

Figure 2 shows the body of the orthopaedic insole viewed from the bottom.

Figure 3 is a schematic sectional view taken along the line HI-M in Fig. 1.

in Figure 4 is a side view of the body of the orthopaedic insole and a sectional view of 30 the adjusting piece for the orthopaedic insole taken along the line IV-IV in Fig. I.

Thus, the orthopaedic insole in accordance with the invention consists of a body 10 1 ' 1 4 3 of the insole and of an adjusting piece 20 to be attached to the body. Into the body 10 of the orthopaedic insole, into the bottom face of the body, a space 11 symmetric in relation to the longitudinal axis A-A of the body 10 has been formed for the adjusting piece 20. Said space 11 for the ad usting piece 20 extends substantially j from the rear part of the body 10 of the orthopaedic insole, i.e. from underneath the heel, to the area of the foot arch. In the embodiment as shown in the figures, onto the body 10 of the orthopaedic insole, substantially in die area of the heel on the longitudinal axis of the body part, a projection 12 that projects outwards from the space 11 provided for the adjusting piece has been formed additionally so as to align the adjusting piece 20.

The adjusting piece 20 can be fixed to the space I I provided for it, for example, by gluing or by means of tape. The adjusting piece has been shaped so that by its means the insole becomes suitable for foots of different types of functioning. Attempts have been made to illustrate this in particular in Fig. 3. According to Fig. 3, the adjusting piece 20 has been shaped so that its second side edge 23 is substantially thicker than its first side edge 22. With the exception of this difference in the thicknesses of the edges, the adjusting piece 20 has been shaped symmetric in relation to its longitudinal axis so that it can also be used upside down as attached to the body 10 of the insole.

Thus, for a foot with excessive pronation, the adjusting piece is placed so that the thicker second side edge 23 of the adjusting piece 20 is placed at the inside edge of the insole. In a corresponding way, for a foot with insufficient Pronation, the adjusting piece is turned over, so that the thicker side edge 23 is placed at the outside edge of the insole. Moreover, as is shown in the figures, an opening has been formed into the adjusting piece 20, which opening fits onto the projection 12 formed onto the body 10 of the insole. In the longitudinal sectional view shown in Fig. 4, it is seen that the maximum elevation 24 in the adjusting piece 20 has been formed approximately at the front edge of the heel, where correction of the foot posture is exactly needed. To provide different extents of correction of the foot posture, it is possible to make additional pieces or adjusting pieces 20 that are provided with different degrees of inclination, i.e. shaped so that the difference in thickness between the side edges of the adjusting piece 20 is different.

4 Above, the invention has been described by way of example with reference to the figures in the accompanying drawing. The invention is, however, not confined to the exemplifying embodiments shown in the figures alone, but different alternative embodiments of the invention may show variation within the scope of the inventive idea defined in the accompanying patent claims.

Claims

1. An orthopaedic insole for use in a shoe intended to correct faulty postures of a foot placed within the shoe by supporting the foot in such a way so as to correct the faulty posture, which orthopaedic insole comprises a body portion and an adjusting piece, which adjusting piece is removably attached to the body portion.

2. An orthopaedic insole according to claim 1, wherein the adjusting piece is attached to the body portion on the surface which in use is the underneath surface of the body portion.

3. An orthopaedic insole according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the body portion is provided with a recess within which the adjusting piece is attached.

4. An orthopaedic insole according to claim 3, wherein the recess of the body portion is shaped substantially symmetrically in relation to the longitudinal axis (A-A) of the insole portion.

5. An orthopaedic insole according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the adjusting piece is shaped substantially symmetrically in relation to its longitudinal axis and substantially corresponds to the shape of the recess in the body portion.

6. An orthopaedic insole according to any preceding claim, wherein the adjusting piece may be attached in more than one relative position to the body portion.

7. An orthopaedic insole according to claim 6, wherein the adjusting piece may be attached to the body portion in a first position, in which a first surface of the adjusting piece faces inwardly towards the body portion, as well as in a second position, in which the first surface faces outwardly from the body portion.

8. An orthopaedic insole according to any preceding claim, wherein the adjusting piece is not of -6 constant thickness but varies in thickness from one side to another so as to be substantially wedge-shaped.

9. An orthopaedic insole according to claim 8, wherein the adjusting piece may be attached to the body portion in a first position in which the thicker side is positioned inwardly of the thinner side as well as in a second position in which the thicker side edge is positioned outwardly of the thinner side edge.

10. An orthopaedic insole according to any preceding claim, wherein for the attachment of the adjusting piece the body portion is provided with a projection and the adjusting piece is provided with a corresponding opening into which opening the projection is able to fit.

11. An orthopaedic insole according to claim 10, wherein the projection of the body portion and the opening of the adjusting piece are formed on the longitudinal axis (A-A) of the insole.

12. A body portion of an insole adapted to be interchangeably attached to an adjusting piece so as to form an insole for use in a shoe capable of correcting faulty postures of a foot placed in the shoe by supporting the foot in such a way so as to correct the faulty posture. 25

13. An adjusting piece of an insole adapted to be removably attached to a body portion so as to form an insole for use in a shoe capable of correcting faulty postures of a foot placed in the shoe by supporting the _foot in such a way so as to correct the faulty posture.

14. An orthopaedic insole, a body portion of an insole or an adjusting piece of an insole, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, Figure 3 or Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings.