Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a shoe. More particularly, the present invention relates to an adjustable orthopaedic shoe for rehabilitation.

Background of the Invention

Orthopaedic shoes is crucial in providing support and accomodate the mechanics and structure of the foot, ankle and leg. Generally, orthopaedic shoes is distinct from the everyday footwear as the orthopaedic shoes furnish several medically beneficial features and functions to the user.

Diabetic is one of chronic diseases that require close monitoring once a person is diagnosed with the disease. Based on the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019, there are approximately 3.9 million Malaysians living with diabetes. The prevalence rate has risen from 13.4% in 2015 to 18.3% in 2019 which is equivalent to 1 in 5 adults in the country. Foot problems are common in people with diabetes. They can happen over time when high blood sugar damages the nerves and blood vessels in the feet. Diabetic also may cause foot ulcer which is an open sore or wound that occurs in patients with diabetes, and is commonly located on the bottom of the foot. Those who develop a foot ulcer highly will be hospitalized due to infection or other ulcer-related complication. Further, any accidents that cause foot trauma required close monitoring by the medical practitioner. Rehabilitation is also required in order to return the patient to full functional preinjury activities following surgery or any other treatment of the affected foot.

As the orthopaedic shoes serve medically beneficial features and functions, hence, it is essential to be used during rehabilitation process of a patients after experienced foot traume due to existing diseases such as diabetic foot ulcer or caused by accidents. However, most of the existing orthopaedic shoe are fixed with certain features which may not fulfill the need of several different condition of the affected patient while undergoing the rehabilitation process. Custom made orthopaedic shoe may be requested by the patient but the process of fabricating a custom made orthopaedic shoe is time consuming. Further, the custom made orthopaedic shoe is not flexible to be adjusted if the patient would like to make some adjustment later on while undergoing the rehabilitation process. There are several inventions which offer adjustable orthopaedic shoe and US8402678 CN207708058 and US20220104578A1 are to be mentioned. US8402678 disclosed a shoe and boot, particularly for post-Surgery, diabetic, or post-trauma use. It is intended to be worn by a patient who has a wound located only on the forefoot and midfoot regions of the foot. A gap is formed when a foot rests primilary upon the raised platform between the base platform and the bottom of the foot. A removable soft, cushioning insert may be placed into the gap. The insert can vary in height and density in order to provide optimum comfort throughout the various stages of the healing process. CN207708058 disclosed the involvement of phylon (EVA) insole, however, the outsole of CN207708058 is not adjustable and CN207708058 only disclosed adjustment at the joint area of its shoe. US20220104578A1 disclosed a medical shoe having a plurality of outsole projections. The medical shoe in US20220104578A1 include a sole assembly configured to support a foot, and a frame surrounding the sole assembly. The sole assembly may include a midsole portion forming a substantially planar surface for supporting the foot and an outsole portion including the plurality of outsole projections extending from the midsole portion. US20220104578A1 is focusing more on sole rehab and the outsole could not be adjusted for offloading.

Although several inventions have addressed the issue for providing flexible orthopaedic shoe, there is still in need to have more flexible orthopaedic shoe especially for providing forefoot and heel offloading flexibility in an orthopaedic shoe.

Summary of the Invention

An aspect of the present innovation is to provide an adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) comprising: an insole (11) to provide support and traction to a user’s sole; a vamp (12) fabricated around the insole (11) to cover a user’ s foot; a keel (13) fabricated between the insole (11) and outsole to reduce pressure on the user’s foot while wearing the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10); a midsole (14) fabricated above the keel (13) to provide size adjustment to the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10); a fastener (15) fabricated on top of the vamp (12) and interconnected with the vamp (12) to fasten or loosen the adjustable orthopaedic shoe; an adjustable outsole (16) fabricated below the midsole (14) to provide support to a user; characterized in that the midsole (14) is flexible to be adjusted according to user’s foot size in real time; the adjustable outsole (16) having an adjustable configuration selected from forefoot offloading (17) or hindfoot offloading (18) depending on the user’s medical condition and necessity. Accordingly, material of the insole (11) is selected from phylon EVA and plastazote, material of the vamp (12) is selected from leather, semi-leather and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), material of the keel (13) is selected from fiber selected in a range of 1.2mm-0.8mm and hard EVA selected in a range of 1mm- 100mm, material of the midsole (14) is selected from semileather, fiber and hard EVA, the fastener (15) is selected from Velcro, buckle, shoe lace, material of the adjustable outsole (15) is selected from super EVA, rubber, wood powder, flexible plastic and polyurethane.

Accordingly, the width of the midsole (14) is able to be adjusted in a range of lcm-5cm.

Accordingly, the midsole (14) is comprising fiber selected in a range of 1.2mm-0.8mm and hard EVA selected in a range of 1mm- 100mm.

Accordingly, the adjustable outsole (16) is selected from rocker bottom outsole and flat outsole.

Accordingly, height of the adjustable outsole (16) is measured via hindfoot outsole selected in a range of lcm-6cm and forefoot outsole selected in a range of 1cm - 4cm.

Accordingly, the size of the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) is selected in range of 20cm to 50cm.

Accordingly, the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) is for rehabilitation process.

Accordingly, the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) of the present invention is suitable for foot rehabilitation including for ankle, hindfoot, forefoot, midfoot or total contact.

Accordingly, the medical condition is selected from foot ulcer, foot deformity, foot trauma and amputation.

Advantegously, the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) of the present invention provide a real-time modification without undergo a time-consuming process like conventional custom made orthopaedic shoe.

Brief Description of the Drawings of the Present Invention

The present invention shall now be further explained in the following examples with reference to the accompanying figures, nevertheless, without being limited thereto. For the purposes of the present innovation, all references as cited herein are incorporated by reference in their entireties in the Figures,

Figure 1 illustrates the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) of the present invention. Figure 2 illustrates the insole (11), keel (13), and the midsole (14) according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 illustrates the the flexible adjustment made on the midsole (14) of the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) of the present invention

Figure 4 illustrates the adjustable outsole (16) in a form of rocker bottom outsole (204) and flat outsole (205).

Figure 5 illustrates forefoot offloading (17) configuration of the adjustable outsole (16) according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 6 illustrates the hindfoot offloading (18) configuration according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 7 illustrates the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) of the present invention accompanied with filler.

Details Description of the Invention

The present invention relates to an an adjustable orthopaedic shoe. Figure 1 shows in details the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) of the present invention. According to Figure 1, the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) of the present invention comprising: an insole (11) to provide support and traction to a user’s sole. In details, material of the insole (11) is selected from phylon EVA and plastazote. As referring to Figure 1, the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) of the present invention comprising a vamp (12) fabricated around the insole (11) to cover a user’s foot. The material of the vamp (12) is selected from leather, semi-leather and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

Still referring to Figure 1, there is a keel (13) and a midsole (14) fabricated below the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10). The adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) of the present invention comprises a fastener (15) fabricated on top of the vamp (12) to fasten or loosen the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) according to the user’s comfort. The fastener (15) is interconnected with the vamp (12) to further provide protection to the user’s foot. The fastener (15) is selected from Velcro strap, buckle and shoe lace.

Figure 2 shows in details the insole (11), keel (13), and the midsole (14) according to one embodiment of the present invention. According to Figure 2, the keel (13) fabricated between the insole (11) and outsole (16) of the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) and a midsole (14) is fabricated below the keel (13). In details, the keel (13) helps in maintaining the foot contour of the user by providing ideal contour to the shoe. The material of the keel (13) is selected from fiber selected in a range of 1.2mm-0.8mm and hard EVA selected in a range of 1mm- 100mm.

The midsole (14) fabricated above the keel (13) provides size adjustment to the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10). The material of the midsole (14) is selected from hard EVA selected in a range of 2mm-4mm. Since the material of the midsole (14) is flexible, the midsole (14) of the present invention is flexible to be altered by the designer according to user’s size.

Figure 3 shows in details the flexible adjustment made on the midsole (14) of the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) of the present invention. The midsole (14) is adjusted by cutting vertically (200) at the centre of the midsole and adding in part of hard EVA with an appropriate size for the width of the midsole selected from 1cm- 5cm (201).

The alteration is easy and is not time-consuming as compared to the conventional, custom-made orthopaedic shoes. The user is also able to alter the size of the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) easily according to the current condition of the user’s during rehabilitation process without needing to revamp all part of the shoes. The current condition of the user’s including before, during or after the user’ s undergoing the rehabilitation process. The width of the midsole (14) is able to be adjusted in a range of lcm-5cm.

Referring back to Figure 2, there is an adjustable outsole (16) fabricated below the midsole (14). The adjustable outsole (16) is the most important feature in the present invention. The adjustable outsole (16) is crucial in providing maximum support to a user during the rehabilitation process. Height of the adjustable outsole (16) is measured via hindfoot outsole selected in a range of lcm-6cm (202) and forefoot outsole selected in a range of 1cm - 4cm (203). The type of the adjustable outsole (16) is selected from rocker bottom outsole (204) and flat outsole (205) as illustrated in Figure 4. The material of the adjustable outsole (16) is selected from super EVA, rubber, wood powder, flexible plastic and polyurethane.

In details, the adjustable outsole (16) is able to be adjusted in two different configurations which are forefoot offloading (17) or hindfoot offloading (18) depending on the user’s necessity while undergoing the rehabilitation process.

Firgure 5 shows the forefoot offloading (17) configuration of the adjustable outsole (16) according to one embodiment of the present invention. As referring to Figure 5, the adjustable outsole (16) could be easily adjusted to forefoot offloading (17) configuration by removing the forefoot offloading (17). Since the material of the outsole (16) is selected from flexible material, the designer is able to easily cut and remove the front part of the outsole to form the forefoot offloading (17). The forefoot offloading (17) configuration is suitable for a user who suffer from foot ulcer, foot deformity, foot trauma and amputation while undergoing rehabilitation.

Figure 6 shows in details the hindfoot offloading (18) configuration according to one embodiment of the present invention. As referring to Figure 6, the adjustable outsole (16) also could be easily adjusted to hindfoot offloading (18) configuration by removing the hindfoot outsole (18). Since the material of the outsole (16) is selected from flexible materials, the designer is able to easily cut and remove the front part of the outsole to form the hindfoot offloading (18). The hindfoot offloading (18) configuration is suitable for a user who suffer from foot ulcer, foot deformity, foot trauma and amputation while undergoing rehabilitation. The hindfoot offloading (18) configuration help to support the user while undergoing the rehabilitation process by providing offloading if there is present of ulcer over the hindfoot area.

In one embodiment of the present invention, Figure 7 illustrates the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) accompanied with a filler (206). The filler (206) is crucial for a wearer who experienced an amputation such as metatarsal amputation so that maximum support could be provided to the user’s foot while walking. As referring to Figure 7 (A), the filler (206) is mold according to the user’s foot to become the ammputation filler. The user may accompany the filler (206) with the asjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) of the present invention as shows in Figure 7 (B) so that maximum support could be provided to the user’s foot while walking. In details, the filler (206) is selected from Phylon EVA.

The size of the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) is determined based on the user’s condition due to several medical conditions such as foot ulcer, foot deformity, foot trauma and amputation. The size is able to be adjusted in range of 20cm to 50cm and it suitable for foot rehabilitation including for ankle, hindfoot, forefoot, midfoot or total contact.

Advantegously, the adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) of the present invention is flexible as the adjustable outsole provide beneficial modification based on the user’s medical condition and neccessity in order to improve their foot or ankle injuries and gain full functional recovery during the rehabilitation process.

The adjustable orthopaedic shoe (10) of the present invention provide real-time modification and provide fast changes to the orthopaedic shoe (10) based on the user’s medical condition and neccessity without undergo a time-consuming process like conventional custom made orthopaedic shoe.

As will be readily evident to those skilled in the art, this invention may easily be produced in other definite forms without leaving from its scope or essential characteristics. These examples are, therefore, to be considered as only illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the claims rather than the former description.