Shoe sole S-shaped pressure profile for gait correction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wearing conventional shoe soles over extended periods can lead to unnatural walking habits, contributing to knee, hip, and back problems, as users lose the ability to maintain an optimal ground contact line during walking or running.
Innovation Solution
A shoe sole design featuring an insole with a thickness and hardness profile that provides concentrated pressure along an S-shaped line, offering feedback when the foot deviates from this line, encouraging dynamic balancing and correcting gait through proprioception, with optional protrusions and hardness variations to enhance stability and balance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional shoe soles with uniform cushioning and support are used, then user comfort is improved, but users develop unnatural walking habits and lose proprioception feedback
Solution Approach 1:
The shoe sole implements different local properties along the ground contact line: a first region with first hardness and a second region with second hardness (different from the first). This local differentiation provides concentrated pressure feedback along the S-shaped ground contact line while maintaining overall comfort, enabling users to sense their gait position without uniform hardness throughout the entire sole.
2Duration of action of stationary object
If prolonged use of conventional shoe soles occurs, then cushioning comfort is maintained, but users forget how to walk naturally and develop body problems
Solution Approach 1:
The shoe sole provides continuous proprioceptive feedback through concentrated pressure along the ground contact line. The different hardness regions create distinct pressure sensations that inform users about their foot position and gait quality in real-time, enabling them to maintain natural walking patterns even during prolonged use and preventing the development of harmful gait-related body problems.
3Ease of operation
If uniform pressure distribution is provided across the shoe sole, then comfort is improved, but users lack feedback on ground contact line deviation
Solution Approach 1:
The shoe sole concentrates pressure feedback specifically along the S-shaped ground contact line through regions of different hardness, rather than distributing uniform pressure across the entire sole. This localized pressure concentration enables precise detection of ground contact line deviation while maintaining overall comfort through the cushioning properties of the surrounding softer regions.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention provides a shoe sole (1), suitable for an article of footwear, comprising in rear-end-to-front-end sequence along the sole a heel portion (3), midfoot portion (4), ball portion (5) and forefoot portion (6), said heel, midfoot and ball portions each being adjacent to an arch region below the arch of a foot wearing the shoe sole. The shoe sole comprises first sole portions (11; 11'; 11") extending along a substantially S-shaped line (G) of optimal ground contact during walking or running, starting at the heel portion, passing along the midfoot and ball portions and ending at the forefoot portion, and second sole portions (12, 13; 12', 13'; 12", 13") extending on both sides of said substantially S-shaped line. The local thickness T and/or the local hardness H of a first sole portion (11; 11'; 11") is/are greater than the local thickness T and/or the local hardness H of a second sole portion (12, 13; 12', 13'; 12", 13") adjacent to said first sole portion.