The present disclosure relates generally to the podiatric, orthopedic, orthotic and footwear fields related to providing arch support for the foot. More specifically, but not exclusively, the present disclosure relates to devices and methods for providing continuous contact with the plantar surface of the foot during all phases of the gait cycle.
Most solutions for providing arch support are either rigid and provide a structured system without foot flexibility or flexible and unable to provide plantar support. Device that are rigid and/or uniform are adept to stationary activities, such as, standing, but do not provide support when the user is active as they remain linear to the plantar aspect of the foot. Flexible or softer insole devices allow for increased flexibility, but do not provide sufficient plantar and arch support. Thus, new and improved arch support devices and methods for using the devices are needed to provide both foot and sole flexibility while also providing increased plantar and arch support.
The present disclosure is directed toward devices and methods for providing continuous contact with the plantar surface of the foot during all phases of the gait cycle.
In one aspect of the present disclosure provided herein, is an orthotic device. The orthotic device including a base member, an arch support portion, and a covering coupling the arch support portion to the base member.
In another aspect of the present disclosure provided herein, is a method of assembling an orthotic device. The method includes obtaining a plurality of arch members. The method also includes positioning the plurality of arch members within a covering. Finally, the method includes coupling the covering containing the plurality of arch members to the base member.
These and other objects, features and advantages of this disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description of the various aspects of the disclosure taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the detailed description herein, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. It is emphasized that, in accordance with the standard practice in the industry, various features are not drawn to scale. In fact, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion. The drawings are only for purposes of illustrating preferred embodiments and are not to be construed as limiting the disclosure.
Generally stated, disclosed herein are devices for providing arch support for the foot. Further, methods for using the devices to provide continuous contact with the plantar surface of the foot during all phases of the gait cycle are discussed.
In this detailed description and the following claims, the words proximal, distal, anterior or plantar, posterior or dorsal, medial, lateral, superior and inferior are defined by their standard usage for indicating a particular part or portion of a bone or implant according to the relative disposition of the natural bone or directional terms of reference. For example, “proximal” means the portion of a device nearest the torso, while “distal” indicates the portion of the device farthest from the torso. As for directional terms, “anterior” is a direction towards the front side of the body, “posterior” means a direction towards the back side of the body, “medial” means towards the midline of the body, “lateral” is a direction towards the sides or away from the midline of the body, “superior” means a direction above and “inferior” means a direction below another object or structure. Further, specifically in regards to the foot, the term “dorsal” refers to the top of the foot and the term “plantar” refers the bottom of the foot.
Similarly, positions or directions may be used herein with reference to anatomical structures or surfaces. For example, as the current devices and methods are described herein with reference to use with the bones of the foot, the bones of the foot, ankle and lower leg may be used to describe the surfaces, positions, directions or orientations of the devices and methods. Further, the devices and methods, and the aspects, components, features and the like thereof, disclosed herein are described with respect to one side of the body for brevity purposes. However, as the human body is relatively symmetrical or mirrored about a line of symmetry (midline), it is hereby expressly contemplated that the devices and methods, and the aspects, components, features and the like thereof, described and/or illustrated herein may be changed, varied, modified, reconfigured or otherwise altered for use or association with another side of the body for a same or similar purpose without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. For example, the devices and methods, and the aspects, components, features and the like thereof, described herein with respect to the right foot may be mirrored so that they likewise function with the left foot. Further, the devices and methods, and the aspects, components, features and the like thereof, disclosed herein are described with respect to the foot for brevity purposes, but it should be understood that the devices and methods may be used with other bones of the body having similar structures.
Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to indicate like or analogous components throughout the several views, and with particular reference to
With continued reference to
The arch support portion 130 includes a plurality of arch members 132, as shown in
Each arch member 132 may also include an opening or hollow portion 146 extending from the first or distal end 138 to the second or proximal end 140 of each arch member 132. The size and shape of the hollow portion 146 may be selected, for example, to provide the desired support and flexibility for a patient's plantar arch through the entire gait cycle. The edges of the hollow portion 146 of each arch member 132 may form, for example, a rimmed edge around the perimeter of each arch member 132 on the first and second ends 138, 140. The rimmed edge of the arch members 132 may be, for example, rounded, curved, smooth or the like to allow for each arch member 132 to translate with respect to the adjacent arch members 132. The plurality of arch members 132 may be, for example, collated or positioned relative to each other to form the shape of the arch of the foot. For example, the plurality of arch members 132 includes a first end arch member 132, a plurality of intermediate arch members 132, and a second end arch member 132, the first end 138 of each of the plurality of intermediate arch members 132 and the second end arch member 132 is separate from the second end 140 of each adjacent arch member 132 of the first end arch member 132 and the plurality of intermediate arch members 132. The plurality of arch members 132 may, for example, align in a resting state, as shown in
As shown in
A method of using the orthotic device 100 is also disclosed. The method includes the plurality of arch members 132 aligning to provide consistent segmental pressure to the arch, primarily, the plantar fascia, during the flat foot and mid stance phase of the gait cycle. Next, during the heel off and toe off phases of the gait cycle, the plurality of arch members 132 slide past the neighboring or adjacent arch members 132 based on the flexion of the foot and the shape change of the sole providing contiguous pressure to the arch/plantar fascia. In this heel off and toe off phase, each arch member of the plurality of arch members is positioned at least partially overlapping each adjacent arch member of the plurality of arch members in a second position. Then, during the mid-swing stance phase of the gait cycle, the plurality of arch members 132 remain in an overlapped arrangement to provide equal segmental pressure to the arch/plantar fascia. Next, during the heel strike phase of the gait cycle, the individual arch members 132 again slide past neighboring or adjacent arch members 132 corresponding to the change in shape of the sole providing contiguous pressure on the arch/plantar fascia. Finally, during the flat foot and mid stance phase of the gait cycle, the plurality of arch members 132 realign to allow the plurality of arch members 132 to repeat the movement cycle.
As may be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings herein, numerous changes and modifications may be made to the above-described and other embodiments of the present disclosure without departing from the scope of the disclosure. The components of the device as disclosed in the specification, including the accompanying abstract and drawings, may be replaced by alternative component(s) or feature(s), such as those disclosed in another embodiment, which serve the same, equivalent or similar purpose as known by those skilled in the art to achieve the same, equivalent or similar results by such alternative component(s) or feature(s) to provide a similar function for the intended purpose. In addition, the devices may include more or fewer components or features than the embodiments as described and illustrated herein. Accordingly, this detailed description of the currently-preferred embodiments is to be taken in an illustrative, as opposed to limiting of the disclosure.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprise” (and any form of comprise, such as “comprises” and “comprising”), “have” (and any form of have, such as “has”, and “having”), “include” (and any form of include, such as “includes” and “including”), and “contain” (and any form of contain, such as “contains” and “containing”) are open-ended linking verbs. As a result, a method or device that “comprises,” “has,” “includes,” or “contains” one or more steps or elements possesses those one or more steps or elements, but is not limited to possessing only those one or more steps or elements. Likewise, a step of a method or an element of a device that “comprises,” “has,” “includes,” or “contains” one or more features possesses those one or more features, but is not limited to possessing only those one or more features. Furthermore, a device or structure that is configured in a certain way is configured in at least that way, but may also be configured in ways that are not listed.
The invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment. It will be understood that the architectural and operational embodiments described herein are exemplary of a plurality of possible arrangements to provide the same general features, characteristics, and general system operation. Modifications and alterations will occur to others upon a reading and understanding of the preceding detailed description. It is intended that the disclosure be construed as including all such modifications and alterations.
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