The present invention relates to minimalist barefoot shoes for correcting pronation feet, and more particularly to minimalist barefoot shoes for flatfeet to provide an upward pulling force to medial arches of the feet of a user.
In ancient ages, human walked barefoot. When humans walk barefoot on sand or soil ground, the sand or soil conformed to the structure of each human's foot. Consequently, uneven surfaces easily causes humans to easily fall down. In the present age, the surfaces may be coated with asphalt to form a hard surface. The hard surface allowed humans to walk on a variety of surfaces without falling down.
However, when a person steps or walks on a modern surface, the weight of that person is supported by only a portion of the foot plate that is in contact with the hard surface. The medial arches of the feet of a person are not in contact with the ground and cannot support the weight of the person. Therefore, walking on a hard surface easily causes over pronation of the feet. In addition, a toddler learning to walk usually wears a pair of shoes that covers the feet, and the conventional shoes easily cause unsound development of their feet and causes soft tissues of feet, such as muscle, myofascial, tendon, or ligament, to weaken or loosen. Accordingly, over pronation and unsound development of feet easily cause the arches to collapse and cause functional flatfeet. Accordingly, the arches will lose their resilience and shock-absorbing function, and the arrangement of bones, such as calcaneal, navicular, or talus and the angles of the media longitudinal arch and front transverse arch will be altered. Consequently, this causes: 1) collapse of medial arches, 2) subluxation of the subtalar joint, 3) internal rotation of the tibia, and femur, and 4) knee valgus. When the femur internally rotates, the femoral head on the hip joint will push backward against the acetabular to cause pelvic torsion. The pelvic torsion causes asymmetry of lower limbs (functional leg length discrepancy), and then leads to scoliosis and soft tissue tension imbalance of the paraspine. This poor alignment scenario also causes soreness and pain of heel, knee, calf, and back. Therefore, the over pronation and unsound development of the feet are serious problems that need to be solved.
To overcome these problems, the present invention aims to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.
The main objective of the invention is to provide a pair of minimalist barefoot shoes that can prevent unsound development of medial arches, over pronation of medial arches caused by stepping on a hard surface, functional flatfeet caused by collapse of arches, and then address proper arrangement of bone and joint biomechanic alignment problems.
The pair of minimalist barefoot shoes has two shoe units. Each shoe unit has a shoe member, a medial arch pulling member, and a pressing member. The shoe member has a shoe body, a toe member, and a sole. The shoe body has a medial arch segment, an instep lateral segment, a receiving space, an opening, and an attachment layer. The medial arch segment is formed on a first side of the shoe body. The instep lateral segment is formed on a second side of the shoe body opposite the first side. The receiving space is formed in the shoe body. The opening is defined in a top of the shoe body and communicates with the receiving space. The attachment layer is mounted on the shoe body at a position adjacent to the opening. The toe member is mounted on a front end of the shoe body and has five toe caps communicating with the receiving space in the shoe body. The sole is attached to a bottom of the shoe body and has a gap formed between the sole and the shoe body. The medial arch pulling member is mounted on the shoe member and has a pulling segment and a connection layer. The pulling segment is formed on a first end of the medial arch pulling member, is attached securely to the bottom of the shoe body at a position being adjacent to the medial arch segment of the shoe body, and is held in the gap between the sole and the shoe body. The connection layer is mounted on a second end of the medial arch pulling member opposite the first end of the medial arch pulling member, is mounted on a side of the medial arch pulling member facing the shoe body, extends around the medial arch segment of the shoe body from the bottom of the shoe body, extending inclinedly and upward to a position around the opening of the shoe body, and is connected detachably with the attachment layer of the shoe body. The pressing member is mounted on the shoe body and has a pressing segment and a combination layer. The pressing segment is formed on a first end of the pressing member, is attached securely to the shoe body at a position adjacent to the instep lateral segment of the shoe body, extends through the gap between the sole and the shoe body, extends around the medial arch segment of the shoe body, covers the first end of the medial arch pulling member, and extends inclinedly and upward to a position around the opening of the shoe body. The combination layer is mounted on the pressing member at an inner side of the pressing member facing the shoe body at a position adjacent to a second end of the pressing member opposite the first end of the pressing member.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
With reference to
With reference to
With reference to
The pressing member 30 is mounted on the shoe body 11 and comprises a pressing segment 31 and a combination layer 32. The pressing segment 31 is formed on a first end of the pressing member 30 and is attached securely to the shoe body 11 at a position adjacent to the instep lateral segment 14. The pressing segment 31 extends through the gap 161 between the sole 16 and the shoe body 10, extends around the medial arch segment 13 of the shoe body 11, covers the first end of the medial arch pulling member 20, and extends inclinedly and upward to a position around the opening 112 of the shoe body 11. The combination layer 32 is mounted on the pressing member 20 at an inner side of the pressing member 30 facing the shoe body 11 at a position adjacent to a second end of the pressing member 30 opposite the first end of the pressing member 30. The combination layer 32 is selectively connected with one of the adhesive layer 23 of the medial arch pulling member 20 and the attachment layer 113 of the shoe body 11. In addition, the pressing member 30 further has an engagement layer 33 mounted on an outer side of the pressing member 30 and is selectively connected detachably with the combination layer 32 of the pressing member 30. Preferably, the combination layer 32 is a hook connection strap, and the engagement layer 33 is a loop connection strap. The pressing member 30 is elastic.
With reference to
With reference to
With such an arrangement, when a user wears the minimalist barefoot shoes in accordance with the present invention, the toes of the wearer can move freely inside the toe member 12. Thus, the feet of the wearer can emulate walking as barefoot.
Furthermore, with the pulling forces provided by the medial arch pulling member 20 and the pressing member 30, the medial arch segment 13 can be pulled upwardly and the medial arch of the wearer can also be pulled upwardly to prevent the medial arches from collapsing. This prevents the individual's foot 40 from over pronation, medial arch collapse, and improper arrangement of biomechanic alignment. Accordingly, the muscle and joint soreness can be effectively mitigated.
Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
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107106957 A | Mar 2018 | TW | national |
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