Patent Application
20170360147
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights whatsoever.
The present invention relates to shoes and, more particularly, to high heel shoes.
Conventionally, high heel shoes are constructed such that the user's weight is shifted primarily onto the ball of the foot and the toes. This can cause a large amount of pressure to be placed on a small area of the foot, rather than distributed more evenly throughout the entire foot and heel. As a result, the user's weight is shifted unnaturally forward, which can cause the user to compromise her posture. This change in posture can create pressure in the lower back, tension and curvature in the shoulders, joint pain, muscle tightness and general discomfort. Additionally, excess weight in the toes and ball of the foot can cause foot cramping, arch compression, and pronation, as well as bunions and Morton's neuromas. In addition to causing discomfort to the user, conventional high heels can cause injury, either permanent or temporary, particularly after repeated or prolonged use.
Many shoe companies create high heels with features intended to reduce foot pain, such as lower heels, more padding, and wider areas in the toes and ball of foot. However, while these features may reduce pain, they do not fundamentally impact the posture of the wearer.
The present invention enables the user to retain a more natural posture and weight distribution, thereby reducing, eliminating, or counteracting the typical ill effects of wearing high heels. These and other features of the invention will be fully understood from the following description.
Accordingly, provided is a high heel shoe having an insole, an outsole, and a shank embedded between the insole and outsole, the shank comprising a heel portion with a depression to accommodate a user's heel, and a lateral ridge element in front of the heel portion that exerts pressure against the forward movement of a user's heel when worn. The shank further comprises a front portion sloping downward from the lateral ridge along the arch of the insole, which optionally is padded.
Embodiments are illustrated in the figures of the accompanying drawings, which are meant to be exemplary and not limiting, and in which like references are intended to refer to like or corresponding things.
Referring to the drawings,
As shown in
The depression 28 allows the user to settle more weight into the heel than in a conventional high heel shoe. In a conventional shoe, the user's weight is shifted forward, and the leg extends upward from the shoe at a forward tilted angle. In contrast, by settling the heel into the depression 28, the user can stand comfortably upright, with the ankle and calf extending generally straight up from the shoe, as depicted in
By allowing the user to stand more upright, the high heel of the present invention helps to improve the user's posture, correct lower back problems, and can be worn for extended periods of time without pain and longer term injury to the feet or body. The user can comfortably stand taller and walk straighter than in conventional high heels.
In the embodiment shown in
It should be understood that the dimensions of the different components may vary. However, it has been found that an embodiment of the high heel shoe functions as described where the components have dimensions as follows, where all measurements are in centimeters: (a) high heel—the height from the center of the ground to the center rear of the high heel at the highest point is approximately 10 cm; (b) heel portion of the shank—the longitudinal length is approximately 4.5 cm, with a lateral width of approximately 4 cm; (c) depression—at the lowest point, the depression is approximately 1 cm below the heel portion of the shank; (d) lateral ridge—at its highest point the lateral ridge is approximately 0.5 cm above the heel portion of the shank and extends across the lateral width of the shank, the width of the lateral ridge is approximately 1.2 cm; (e) front portion of the shank—the longitudinal length extends approximately 9 cm from the lateral ridge, and the lateral width is approximately 4 cm, slightly narrowing to approximately 3.5 cm generally in the center where a user's foot arch would fall.
Also shown in the embodiment of
It should be understood that the dimensions of the high heel shoe, shank and all components will vary depending on the foot and shoe size of the user, the style of shoe, and the height of the heel. For example, in larger shoe sizes, the length of the shank will be adjusted correspondingly to be longer and/or wider as necessary.
Some embodiments of the present invention comprise additional features such as additional insole cushion layers, or other features as known in the art. The shoe may be made of any suitable materials, such as leather, fabric, plastic, cork, felt, and/or rubber, without departing from the underlying idea or principles of the invention within the scope of the appended claims.
