Recovery shoe

Abstract

A correctional running shoe with an upper shoe attached to a negative sole having a heel, a specially designed flexible midsole, and a toe portion, all made from cushioned material. The heel has at least about 1 / 6 to about 1 / 3 less thickness than the toe portion so that the foot naturally rests with the toe inclined and the heel downward.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]This invention relates to the field of footwear, more particularly corrective running athletic shoes, designed to provide gait correction, proper shock absorption, and the ability to minimize running injuries.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Running, varying from everyday exercise running to cross country running, track season running and the like, is known to cause repetitive stress injuries, particularly for long distance runners. Injuries may vary from ligament stress, to muscle stress, to actual stress fractures. In fact, reports show that at least 60% of runners are nursing some sort of injury at any given time.[0003]It has been noticed that in European countries and the USA, most runners are heel strikers, that is they run heel to toe. In contrast, long distance barefoot runners from African nations are frequently forefoot strikers, that is to say they run toe to heel. It has been noticed that many of these African long distance runners, who actuall...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention is a shoe designed to force a toe / heel running gait. It has a negative sole with a heel portion, midsole, and toe portion, all made from cushioned sole material. The heel portion is thinner than the toe portion, and the midsole has a force deflector strut or struts to provide a flexible arch area under the wearer's foot. This shoe can be comfortable during training to transition to a toe striker, avoiding the stress of joints, ligaments, and muscles from wearing traditional heel strike running shoes while trying to retrain.

Problems solved by technology

Running, varying from everyday exercise running to cross country running, track season running and the like, is known to cause repetitive stress injuries, particularly for long distance runners.

There is, however, great difficulty in converting runners from heel strikers to toe strikers.

During the correctional period while the runner is attempting to change over to a primary forefoot striker, different muscles are used than normal and pain resulting therefrom usually results in abandonment of the project with the runner returning to the more common heel-strike-first method.

These shoes, however, sold under the trademark Earth® Shoes are not designed for athletic use, nor are they designed as a correctional shoe to encourage and enforce forefoot striking first running

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