An orthopedic cushion, both fittable as well as fitted, for a portion of a user's body such as a user's foot, and a method for fitting thereof. The fittable orthopedic cushion comprises a flexible envelope containing a flowable, highly viscous material. The envelope includes an elongated member and a diverticulum which may receive part of the viscous material during adjustment of the cushion to comfortably accommodate the portion of the user's body. The elongated member and diverticulum of the fittable cushion may be sealed off from the envelope and removed, resulting in a fitted orthopedic cushion, the envelope of which will contain a desired amount of the viscous material.
This plantar support (1) must be arranged in the shoe in place of a rigid orthopedic sole; it contains cavities (3,5,7,9) with flexible and elastic walls which contain a granular material allowing adjustment of the bearing surface of the foot; it also has the possibility of metering the material in each cavity.
The invention is concerned with an orthotic fitting device and method. An envelope and an adjacent diverticulum are connected to one another and are filled with a known amount of a viscous fluid. The diverticulum has indicia on it capable of indicating what portion of the fluid is within the diverticulum. The envelope is fitted against a portion of a patient's body which is to be cushioned and the fluid adjusts between the envelope and the diverticulum to provide proper cushioning for the foot. Flow communication is stopped between the diverticulum and the envelope and the amount of fluid in the diverticulum is determined from the indicia. An orthotic device in the shape of the envelope is then formulated containing the amount of fluid which remained in the envelope of the fitting device.
Shock absorbing devices utilize rheopexic fluid contained in a deformable sealed chamber which is subjected to external shock forces. Upon application of the shock forces to the deformable sealed chamber, the rheopexic fluid filled therein is exerted with shear stress which causes the rheopexic fluid to increase its consistency and shock absorbent characteristics as a function of increasing shear stresses applied thereto. Additionally, when used in an application wherein the device is placed against a body part of a user, the rheopexic material "molds" itself to the body portion of the user. When left at rest, the rheopexic material returns to its initial fluid, low-consistency state.
A sole for sports shoes is proposed which has improved shock absorbing capability when landing, and provides a repulsion force when kicking. Cushioning members are mounted in the recesses formed in the sole plate. Each cushioning member has a pair of sheets adhered together at spacings to form a plurality of chambers. The chambers are filled with a gel to inflate them. Air chambers are formed between the gel filling chambers.
Foot support for insertion into a shoe, which readily adjusts to the form of a foot without the need for qualified fitting and which can be adjusted by the person using the support. The foot support includes a flexible top layer, a base layer, and a sidewall connected to edge regions of said top and base layers. Said foot support further includes a cavity defined between said top and base layers, which extend about a forward pocket of said support and which contains a flowable gel, the flowable gel facilitating the adaption of the flexible top layer to the sole of a foot for support thereof. The forward pocket is located in the region to support the transverse arch of a foot and is able to receive a support medium to facilitate adjustable support of the transverse arch.
