US20120000093A1

US20120000093A1 - Perfect Gait Shoe

Info

Publication number: US20120000093A1
Application number: US13/059,063
Authority: US
Inventors: Murali Krishna V Pata
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2008-12-05
Filing date: 2009-11-30
Publication date: 2012-01-05
Also published as: EP2367453A2; WO2010079509A2; WO2010079509A3; AU2009336566A1; EP2367453A4

Abstract

According to one aspect of the invention, perfect gait shoe includes the shape of the foot wear, the foot wear is divided into front section, mid section and rear section, the front section of the sole interfaces with the mid section at an angle of 45 to 95 degree, mid section interfaces with the rear section at an angle of 85 to 125 degree. The perfect gait shoe also includes a hard under sole with oval to varied shaped pockets filled with highly compressible material in the front section and the rear section of the foot wear; this provides cushioning of the fore foot and hind foot. The rear section of the foot wear also has a very hard sole in the rear end of the under sole, the newly invented perfect gait shoes of the foot wear confirms to the shape of the foot in heel strike, foot flat, heel off and toe off stages of walking, the inventing design of the sole helps in providing adequate cushion to the foot preventing pain and injury to the bones of the fore foot and hind foot, adopts to the shape of the foot in normal walking promotes development of foot, leg, thigh, hip muscles of the body.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to footwear and more particularly to a shoe that has been adapted to improve a walker's power posture and comfort. This is accomplished by a unique shape & structure of footwear arrangement, which optimizes the use of all muscles of lower limbs and increases the power of the walker, present inventive shoe adopts to the shape of the foot and supports the foot in all stages of normal walking, provides shoe spring or rebound cushioning. Although the shoe provides benefits which extend to all forms of footwear including sports shoes, it has proven especially effective for use by people who walk for exercise and or competition, and is described in the context of race walking below.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Locomotion or walking is an important and basic function of humans. Our life depends on walking, Walking is essential in providing the basic necessities of life, ‘Movement is life and life is movement’ and movement is necessary to all living beings, walking has evolved over millions of years. Human walking is an advanced form of walking of all living creatures. Each and every muscle, bones are interlinked, developed and evolved to the needs of varied movements of the body, perfected and evolved to the present state, thus human walking is a highly evolved essential organ system, all other organs of our body like heart, liver, kidney, digestive organs are built around the walking organ, “life means walking, walking means life”, due to the faulty and unscientific foot wear presently used, normal walking is suppressed, this causes disuse of muscles and humans are suffering from life style diseases, hence foot wear is not just a protective device of the foot but also a health device, foot is the gate way of individual's health.
Foot wear has been designed as protective device to the foot, many inventions have been taken place in the field of foot wear yet so far no foot wear has been designed to suit the normal walking style of humans. Human's foot is flat, yet normal walking is not flat it takes many shapes with each step but our present foot wear is flat, sole of the present foot wear is hard and inflexible, foot in natural walking is flexible and changes its shape, hence present foot wear do not promote normal walking due to this rigidity and this defect in the present foot wear leads to life style diseases like obesity, cardiac diseases, osteoporosis arthritis of knee, spondylosis, backache, ankle fractures, hip fractures and other diseases, It is evident that lack of proper walking techniques and exercise are the main reason for the advent of these life style diseases.
Normal walking has heel strike, foot flat, heel off and toe off stages. Modern foot wear with its hard rigid soles do not allow so many movements of the foot, this causes disuse atrophy of various muscles of the leg, back and other parts of the body, in effect our body gradually adjusts to the foot wear, instead of foot wear adjusting to our foot, we are left with one movement of the foot that is foot flat stage, This makes a chain of reactions in the body, the muscles gets disuse, bulk of the muscles decreases, body falls to this trap and succumbs to modern life style diseases as a consequence to the use of badly designed rigid soled foot wear.
In recent years to overcome the modern life style diseases there has been an explosion in the physical fitness industry, and correspondingly, in the desire for better equipment which improves an individual's performance of activities which promote good health, perfect walking is an area which requires a particular importance which improve physical condition without unduly taxing an individual's joints, walking have thus popularized and have developed into competition sports such as performance walking or race walking, the sport serves as an increasingly popular form of exercise and recreation, attracting persons of differing levels of skill and physical ability, the fitness industry, however, has been slow in recognizing this trend, and has yet to develop an acceptable walking shoe, walkers have thus been forced to use the running shoes, shoes designed to accommodate a high impact activity which requires very different foot posture, stride technique, impact absorption, and overall shoe use from that of performance walking or race walking.
Walking technique consists of series of steps, where each step constitutes a cycle in which the walker shifts from a single support phase to a double support phase and then back to the single support phase. In the single support phase the walker's entire weight is balanced on one foot, the other foot being moved forward so as to move the walker into the double support phase. In the double support phase, the walker's weight is balanced between a leading and a trailing foot, the trailing foot is used to push the walker forward so as to again enter the single support phase, and begin the cycle anew, the aforementioned “push-off” begins during the single support phase when the walker's center of gravity passes over the supporting foot. The walker, at all times, has at least one foot in contact with the ground, reducing the impact associated with each step, and resulting in an overall lower impact exercise routine.
With each step in the stride phase, the human's foot lands on the heel or heel strike phase, and moves forward to a planted position or foot flat position with the heel and a ball of the foot supported from below. The ball of the foot acts as a fulcrum, the walker's foot pivoting forward about the fulcrum as the walker's center of gravity passes there over, the foot then moves forward to heel off and toe off stages, This stage accommodates push-off by the walker's toes, the walker's push-off with the trailing foot to assist the leading foot to plant so as to provide the walker with longer stride and stable support.
In conventional shoes the sole of the shoes is flat, in some shoe the wearer's heel is elevated relative to the toes and the ball of the foot preventing the movement of the foot and in all the shoes the sole will be rigid, hard and inflexible and flat when the foot is planted, this arrangement of the shoes does not allow double support and causes the disuse of leg, thigh & hips muscles and decreases in size this leads to improper walking posture, which can lead to injury, bad posture detracts and decreases the wearer's walking power and walking speed, the wearer will tend to stand with a body reclined slightly so as to maintain balance, stand on the front of the foot rather than back of the foot results in an unhealthy posture and increases the likelihood of injury to the walker's lower torso, conventional shoes also detract from walking efficiency because it is necessarily provided a sole with an undersurface which is generally planar, rigid and inflexible from the shoe's heel to the tip of its toe, however, during fast walking, planar shoes may be uncomfortable and does not confirm to the shape of the foot along the various stages of walking, most of the times this deters the foot movement, reduces the use of calf muscle and hamstring muscle and in turn reduces the bulk of the calf muscles, hamstrings muscles and gluteus muscles.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The problems explained are overcome by the present inventive design. The device according to the invention for perfect Gait shoe 1 hereinafter called Perfect Gait Shoe 1, comprises an upper shoe 2 and a sole 3, the upper shoe 2 is used for the reliable fixing of the walking device 1 to the foot, this can take place by means of straps, such as are used for sandals, laces as are used in the case of beach shoes or an entire upper shoe made from leather or a textile material, what is important is that through said upper shoes 2 the foot is firmly and comfortably connected to the midsole 10. The sole 3 is divided into front section, mid section and rear section, shape of the shoe in unique to the present invention, the front section intersects with mid section at an angulation of 45 to 95 degrees and, the mid section intersects with rear section at an angulation of 85-125 degree.
The sole 3 has undersole 12 which has pockets which contains highly compressible materials in the front and rear section, the midsole 10 of the front and the rear sections contains cushion materials, the undersole 12 contains a wedge shaped sole which is made of hard materials in the rear section under sole 12 has hard strip 22 across all sections of the footwear, maintains the shape of the footwear.

Statement of Invention

A Perfect Gait Shoe According to one aspect of the invention, includes the shape of the foot wear, the foot wear is divided into front section, mid section and rear section, the front section of the sole interfaces with the mid section at an angle of 45 to 95 degree, mid section interfaces with the rear section at an angle of 85 to 125 degree. The perfect gait shoe also includes a hard under sole with oval to varied shaped pockets filled with highly compressible material in the front section and the rear section of the foot wear, this provides cushioning of the fore foot and hind foot. The rear section of the foot wear also has a very hard sole in the rear end of the under sole, the newly invented perfect gait shoes of the foot wear helps in shoe confirming to the shape of the foot in heel strike, foot flat, heel off and toe off stages of walking, the inventing design of the sole helps in providing adequate cushion to the foot preventing pain and injury to the bones of the fore foot and hind foot, the hard outer sole helps in transmitting the muscular force to the ground during walking, the invented shoe thus helps in building up of the muscles of hip, thigh, leg and foot by promoting natural walking, this bulk of muscles prevents the onset of modern life style diseases.
Present invention is to improve the shoe or the other foot wears of the aforementioned type in such a way that active walking, active standing, active sitting becomes easy and necessary; it is useful in building up of the muscles. As a result daily walking becomes natural promoting the buildup of muscles, strengthening of ligaments, protecting the joints, straighten the posture, all parts of the body gets revitalized and is able to walk faster and longer, this increases the stride and cadence of individuals, helps in competing in various athletic competition, also increases the lung capacity and heart pumping capacity, bulkier leg muscles provides stamina to the body, increases the individual's capacity to work, more work means more burning of calories and less fat accumulation and more productivity, thus the present invented shoes not only prevents the modern life style diseases but also increases productivity.
Our new perfect gait walking device is not just a foot wear, it is a new health device which reinvents the perfect walking style, rejuvenates the muscles of the leg and body which in turn rejuvenates all other organs like lungs, heart, and kidney and prevents life style diseases, promotes good health to the mankind.

The Walking Shoe in Action

The newly invented walking shoe's use is intended for use in pairs, one shoe being placed on each of the wearer's feet, as previously described, walking consists of a series of steps, each step constituting a cycle wherein a walker shifts from a single support phase to a double support phase, and then back to the single support phase, in action during the single support phase, the walker's entire weight is balanced on one foot, the other foot being moved forward so as to move the walker into the double support phase, in the double support phase, the walker's weight is balanced between a leading foot and a trailing foot. The trailing foot is used to push the walker forward so as to again enter the single support phase, and being the cycle anew, Push-off begins during the single support phase when the walker's center of gravity passes over the supporting foot.
With each step, an individual's foot lands on the heel and transitions forward from the heel strike position to a planted position with the heel and ball of the foot supported from below by the ground to heel off stage where the fore foot takes 3 times the weight of the body, the unique shape of the foot wear and differing densities of the sole serve to provide a smooth transition as the walker's weight shifts from the heel to the forefoot, providing smooth movement of the foot from heel to toes body moves forward. This accordingly helps in full functioning of the muscles of foot, leg, thigh, hip, back and makes each of these muscles strong at least some of the sole compresses the energy and is stored, the unique shape of the sole helps in the maximizing the push of the foot by utilizing the full muscles power of the limb, perfect gait shoe perfectly adopts to shape of the foot and allows maximum shift of centre of gravity of the body without any hindrance, the central support along all sections of the shoe helps to maintain the shape of the foot wear even during the deforming weight that falls on the foot wear during walking.
The outer sole has hard strip across front, mid and rear sections of the footwear confirming to the shape of perfect gait shoe, made of different hard materials, this supports and maintains the shape of the foot wear prevents any derangement of the shape of the foot wear by the force of the body that fall on the foot wear during the movement of the leg.
The shoe according to the present invention, when a walker's foot is planted, as in the single support phase orientation, the walker's weight rests on the heel portion of the shoe on the ground surface, the principal components of the body weight being transmitted from heel to shoe and to the ground, the hardness of the heel sole in these areas is important in determining the posture of the wearer's foot, the heel sole thickness and hardness defines the forward movement of the foot, the density of the sole also influences the stride, the special design at the rear section helps to transmit all the forces of the muscles to the ground, soft under sole of the present invention not only provides the cushioning to the heel bones and also prevents pain, injury to the heel bones, shoe promotes the development of the muscles of the leg, thigh and hips, the perfect gait walking shoe also confirms to the unique shape of the foot in all stages of walking.
The walker's foot is dorsiflexed, when the heel strikes the ground relative to the plane of the ground, center of gravity is in the heel, the inventive angling of the forefoot section of the shoe upper will allow maximum dorsiflexion of the foot, as the walker's center of gravity shifts forward to the planted foot, posture of the shoe also shifts to a planar position, the inventive design of the mid section of the sole with hard elastic material not only helps to protects the arch of the foot but also limits the strain to the arch of the foot, the perfect gait walking shoe also gives the shape of flatness to the foot in this stage and confirms to the shape of the foot, the inventive design of the shoe allow smooth transition of centre of gravity from heel to toes and allows smooth forward movement of the foot and the body, the inventive central support in all sections of the foot wear helps to maintain the shape of the foot wear during walking overcoming the with holding deforming body forces.
In the walker's toe off stage the weight of the whole body and the centre of gravity shift to the forefoot, flatness of the front section of the sole and lifting of the mid and rear sections of the foot wear in the perfect gait walking shoe assists the movement of the foot, limb and the body, the special design at the midsole and under sole of the present invention not only provides the cushioning to the forefoot bones and also prevents pain, injury to the forefoot bones, because of the unique shape of the shoe with the lift in the rear section facilitates the faster walk without injury and pain, this design maximizes the utilization of all muscles of the foot, calf, hamstrings, hip and spinal muscles, the maximum utilization of all the muscles not only strengthens the muscles but also prevents life style diseases, the perfect gait walking shoe also confirms to the shape of the foot in this stage.

Shoe In Sitting:

In modern society sitting and table work forms great part of the life, this results in compulsory inactivity, leads to massive disuse of skeletal muscles, everyone loves the luxury life and humans love comforts, inventors have designed all sorts of comforts of promoting passive life styles, this passive life style leads to more disuse of muscles and leads to modern life styles diseases.
To prevent these catastrophic events and leading to the trap of life style diseases active sitting should be encouraged, our newly invented shoe helps in this active sitting, the unique shape of the newly invented shoe helps in active sitting, the flat front section of the shoe helps in putting the fore foot firmly to the ground and lifting the heel off the ground while sitting, this posture helps in the effective use of calf muscles and hamstring muscles of both the legs, even during sitting as a result the bulk of these muscles increases, this increased bulk of the muscles rejuvenates the other muscles of the body in doing more work utilizing the extra glucose in the blood preventing the storage of this extra glucose and prevent life style diseases.
Active sitting can be achieved and facilitated by the inventive design of Perfect Gait Shoe, two types of active sitting and exercise can be done one by putting the weight on the fore foot, this increases the hamstrings and other muscles, second by putting the weight on the heel this strengthens the muscles of the legs, the present inventive shoe promotes doing exercise even during sittings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are not intended to be drawn to scale. In the drawings, each identical or nearly identical component that is illustrated in various figures is represented by a like numeral. For purposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in every drawing.

Various embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is the perspective view of an article with a preferred embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 2 is the shoe in action with heel striking the ground.

FIG. 3 is the shoe in action with shoe in foot flat position.

FIG. 4 is the shoe in action with heel off position of the foot.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The drawings show preferred embodiments illustrated by the following description. FIG. 1 illustrates the present invention.
A device according to the invention for perfect gait shoe 1 hereinafter called walking device 1, comprises an upper shoe 2 and a sole 3, the upper shoe 2 is used for the reliable fixing of the walking device 1 to the foot, this can take place by means of straps, such as are used for sandals, laces as are used in the case of beach shoes or an entire upper shoe made from leather or a textile material, what is important is that through said upper shoes 2 the foot is firmly and comfortably connected to the midsole 10.
The sole 3 can be constructed in different ways. It fundamentally comprises at least one midsole 10, the mid sole bottom 11, under sole 12 and sole bottom 13, to increase the flexibility of the walking device 1, the use and application decide how a walking device 1 according to the invention is constructed and this constitutes one of the advantages thereof, it is adapted to the needs of a group of use aims, but can still be individually adjusted.
The shape of the sole 3 is the most important part of the perfect gait walking shoe, the shape of the sole has unique features and sole 3 is divided into (a) forefoot sole or front section 15 ‘AB’ (b) mid foot sole or mid section 16 ‘BC’ and (c) hind foot sole or rear section 17; the front section intersects with the midsection which is curved and forms an angle ABC or angle ‘X’ the angle ‘X’ is in the range of 45° to 95°, the midsection intersects with rear section which form an angle BCD or angle ‘Y’, the angle ‘Y’ is in the range of 85 to 110 degrees.
The sole 3 has front section 15, which has under sole 12 which has oval or random shaped pockets 18 contains highly deformable flexible material which gives the user a cushioning effect to the area of heads of Metatatarral bones during the toe off stage of walking, this cushioning also helps in active sitting to provide cushioning effect, preventing injury to bones of the foot.
The sole 3 has mid section 16 which has under sole 12 and is made from hard material, the hardness and elasticity can be adapted to the corresponding use. This mid section 16 confirms to the shape of arch of the foot and supports the arch of the foot,
The sole 3 has rear section 17, which has under sole 12 is made of hard and elastic materials with varied thickness, the under sole 12 has oval or varied shaped pockets 19 which contain highly deformable flexible material and is resilient provides cushioning to the hind foot bones, the sole 3 of rear section 17 has an under sole 12 which contains wedge shaped sole 14 made from hard and elastic material, which helps in heel strike phase of the leg in transmission of the force from the leg muscles to the shoe to the ground this helps to move the body forward quickly.
The sole 3 has midsole 10 is made from conventional materials and is relatively soft. Midsole 10 has pocket 20 made of cushioning material at the front section 15, this provides cushioning to forefoot, midsole 10 has pockets 21 made of cushioning material at rear section 17 this provides cushioning to the heel, it can be adapted to the intended use, so that for a gym shoe a different hardness, i.e. a different material is chosen as compared with e.g. a workday shoe, The midsole bottom 11 is made from hard elastic material, It also has an adequate strength to absorb the forces resulting from the deformation of the under sole.
The sole 3 has under sole 12 which has hard strip 22 made of different materials across front, mid and rear sections of the footwear, this support and maintains the shape of the foot wear prevents any derangement of the shape of the foot wear by the force of the body that fall on the foot wear during the movement of the leg.
Any random type of adaptation is made possible by the inventive construction of sole 3 from the midsole 10, midsole bottom 11, under sole 12 and sole bottom 13, for planned uses and applications, such as athletics shoe, massage shoe, foot leg correction, statics of the spinal column, foot reflex, etc., the midsole 10, mid sole bottom 11, central hard support 21 and under sole 12 can be molded from one piece. The transition from the relatively soft midsole 10 to the hard elastic under sole 12 is in many cases of a progressive nature, during production this production method offers significant advantages. The sole 3 is terminated by a sole bottom 13.
The mid sole 10, mid sole bottom 11, under sole 12 and sole bottom 13 all confirms to the angle and shape as mentioned earlier.
FIG. 2 illustrates the position of the shoes in the heel strike phase of the foot. It shows the shoes assumes the shape of the foot and facilitate heel strike phase of walking.
FIG. 3 illustrates the position of the shoes in the foot flat phase of the foot. It shows the shoes assumes the shape of the foot and facilitate foot flat phase of walking.
FIG. 4 illustrates the position of the shoes in the heel off phase of the foot. It shows the shoes assumes the shape of the foot and facilitate toe off phase of walking.

Claims

1. A shoe (1) comprising of: an upper part (2); a sole (3) comprising of at least a mid sole (10); a mid sole bottom (11); an under sole (12); and a sole bottom (13), wherein said mid sole (10) is soft and elastic; said sole bottom (13) is hard and elastic; said under sole (12) is hard and elastic and has thickness in the range of 1 cm to 8 cms; and a hard strip (22) across front section (15), middle section (16) and rear section (17) of said shoe; wherein said front section (15) supports front of foot, said middle section (16) supports arch of said foot; and said rear section (17) supports heel of said foot.

2. The shoe of claim 1, wherein said front section (15) and said middle section (16) interface at an angle in the range of 45° to 95°.

3. The shoe of claim 1, wherein said middle section (16) and said rear section (17) interface at an angle is in the range of 85° to 125°.

4. The shoe of claim 1, wherein said under sole (12) comprises of pockets of highly deformable flexible soft materials of varied thickness of 10-35 shore in said rear section (17) and said front section (15).

5. The shoe of claim 1, wherein said front section (15) has pocket (20) comprising a cushion material of 10-35 shore which provides cushioning to fore foot bones.

6. The shoe of claim 1, wherein said rear section (17) has pocket (21) comprising a cushion material of 10-35 shore which provides cushioning to heel.

7. The shoe of claim 1, wherein said front section (15) has oval shaped pockets (18) filled with highly deformable flexible soft materials of 10-35 shore.

8. The shoe of claim 1, wherein said rear section (17) comprises of oval and/or random shaped pockets (19) filled with highly deformable flexible soil materials of 10-35 shore.

9. The shoe of claim 1 wherein said rear section (17) comprises of wedge shaped sole (14) made from a hard material of 80-100 shore.

10. The shoe of claim 1, wherein said hard strip (22) is made of different materials across front (15), middle (16), and rear sections (17) of said shoe.

11. A shoe (1) comprising of:

A sole (3) comprising of at least a mid sole (10); an under sole (12); and a sole bottom (13), wherein said mid sole (10) is soft and elastic; said sole bottom (13) is hard and elastic; said under sole (12) is hard and elastic; and

a hard strip (22) across front section (15), middle section (16) and rear section (17) of said shoe; wherein said front section (15) supports front of foot, said middle section (16) supports arch of said foot; and said rear section (17) supports heel of said foot, further wherein said front section (15) and said middle section (16) interface at an angle in the range of 45° to 95°.

12. The shoe of claim 11, wherein said middle section (16) and said rear section (17) interface at an angle in the range of 85° to 125°.

13. The shoe of claim 11, wherein said shoe (1) further comprises of an upper part (2).

14. The shoe of claim 11, wherein said under sole (12) comprises of pockets of highly deformable flexible soft materials 10-35 shore of varied thickness in said rear section (17) and said front section (15).

15. The shoe of claim 11, wherein said sole (3) further comprises of a mid sole bottom (11).