Shoe Insert Sensory Feedback Balance Training
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
As people age or recover from injury or surgery, they often experience balance issues and abnormal gait patterns, leading to dysfunctional and potentially injurious movements due to impaired balance and locomotion.
Innovation Solution
A shoe insert with a planar or contoured body featuring sensory feedback structures, including channels and elongated members, that stimulate mechano-receptors on the foot to improve balance and gait by providing targeted sensory feedback along gravitational stress lines and additional channels at angled axes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional shoe inserts are used, then basic foot support is provided, but they fail to effectively improve balance and gait patterns in aging or recovering users
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating specific sensory feedback structures (channels and elongated members) at precise locations along the gravitational stress line on the foot, rather than uniformly modifying the entire insert. This targeted approach stimulates mechano-receptors in critical balance areas while maintaining simplicity in other regions of the insert.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses an intermediary mechanism by introducing sensory feedback structures that act as mediators between the foot and the brain. These structures (channels and elongated members) transmit tactile information through mechano-receptor stimulation, serving as an intermediary communication pathway to improve balance control without directly altering neural function.
2Productivity
If sensory feedback structures are added to improve balance training, then gait training effectiveness increases, but the manufacturing complexity and customization requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the sensory feedback system into modular components: channels that can be molded into the insert body and separate elongated members that can be inserted into these channels. This segmentation allows for standardized mass production of the base insert while enabling customization of the elongated members based on individual user needs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamics by making the elongated members removable and interchangeable within the channels. This dynamic configuration allows the insert to be customized for different users or adjusted as users progress in their balance training, without requiring complete remanufacturing of the entire insert.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple channels and elongated members are used to provide comprehensive sensory feedback, then balance training coverage is improved, but the device complexity and potential for user confusion increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies asymmetry by positioning channels and elongated members specifically along the gravitational stress line, which runs vertically through the foot at an asymmetric position relative to the foot's midline. This asymmetric placement targets the specific anatomical and physiological pathways involved in balance control, providing comprehensive feedback where needed while avoiding unnecessary complexity in other areas.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The shoe insert effectively trains the user's foot to extend in a predetermined position, promoting balance and improving walking patterns by activating mechano-receptors, thereby enhancing balance and reducing the risk of injury.
Implementation Method 1
The elongated member may be resilient and compressible. The channel is defined by a width and a depth and the elongated member is defined by an uncompressed width and depth
Implementation Method 2
the user's foot may sense the open channel (if the elongated member is absent) or the elongated member (if present in the channel) and activate mechano-receptors on the bottom of the foot along the channel
Data Source
AI summary
A shoe insert includes a generally planar body having a perimeter defining a foot-shaped area on an upper side of the body, the foot-shaped area including first and second toe areas and a heel area configured respectively for placement of a first toe, a second toe, and a heel of a user. The upper side defines a channel extending along an axis passing through a space between the first and second toe areas and the heel area. A linear member may be placed in the channel to protrude from an upper surface of the body. When a user uses the insert, the user's foot may sense the channel (or linear member, if present) and activate mechano-receptors on the bottom of the foot along the channel, which, in-turn, may train the foot to extend in a predetermined position relative to the linear member to improve balance.