Shoe sole for gait correction or gait preservation

Abstract

The invention provides a shoe sole, suitable for an article of footwear, comprising in rear-end-to-front-end sequence along the sole a heel portion, midfoot portion, ball portion and forefoot portion, said heel, midfoot and ball portions each being adjacent to an arch region below the arch of a foot wearing the shoe sole. The shoe sole comprises first sole portions extending along a substantially S-shaped line of optimal ground contact during walking or running, starting at the heel portion, passing along the midfoot and ball portions and ending at the forefoot portion, and second sole portions extending on both sides of said substantially S-shaped line. The local thickness T and/or the local hardness H of a first sole portion is/are greater than the local thickness T and/or the local hardness H of a second sole portion adjacent to said first sole portion.

1 . Shoe sole, suitable for an article of footwear, said shoe sole comprising at its ground-contact surface in rear-end-to-front-end sequence along the sole a heel portion, a midfoot portion, a ball portion and a forefoot portion, said heel, midfoot and ball portions each being adjacent to an arch region below the arch of a foot when wearing the shoe sole; wherein the shoe sole comprises first sole portions extending along a substantially S-shaped line which starts at the heel portion, passes along the midfoot and ball portions and ends at the forefoot portion, and second sole portions extending along both sides of said substantially S-shaped line; wherein the local thickness T and/or the local hardness H of a first sole portion is/are greater than the local thickness T and/or the local hardness H of a second sole portion adjacent to said first sole portion; and wherein the shoe sole comprises an insole fixed at the foot-contact surface or embedded underneath the foot-contact surface of the shoe sole, said insole having a smaller width extension than the shoe sole and extending along said substantially S-shaped line. 
     
     
         2 . Shoe sole according to  claim 1 , wherein said insole is made from a material having a greater hardness than the hardness of the shoe sole material surrounding said insole. 
     
     
         3 . Shoe sole according to  claim 1 , wherein the local thickness of a first sole portion is greater than the local thickness of a second sole portion adjacent to said first sole portion and wherein said first sole portion and said second sole portion may have the same hardness. 
     
     
         4 . Shoe sole according to  claim 3 , wherein the entire sole consists of one material having one hardness value. 
     
     
         5 . Shoe sole according to  claim 1 , wherein the sole comprises a protrusion protruding from its ground-facing bottom surface and extending at least along parts of said substantially S-shaped line. 
     
     
         6 . Shoe sole according to  claim 5 , wherein said protrusion has a trapezoidal cross-sectional thickness profile in a plane perpendicular to the substantially S-shaped line and with a first trapezoid base-line defining a plateau-like region of the sole surface and with a second trapezoid base-line defining a transition region between the trapezoidal protrusion and the rest of the sole, said second trapezoid base-line being longer than said first trapezoid base-line. 
     
     
         7 . Shoe sole according to  claim 5 , wherein said protrusion has a rectangular cross-sectional thickness profile in a plane perpendicular to the substantially S-shaped line and with a first rectangular base-line defining a plateau-like region of the sole surface and with a second rectangular base-line defining a transition region between the rectangular protrusion and the rest of the sole, said second rectangular base-line having the same length as said first rectangular base-line. 
     
     
         8 . Shoe sole according to  claim 5 , wherein said protrusion has a curved convex cross-sectional thickness profile in a plane perpendicular to the substantially S-shaped line and with a curved line defining a bead-like or lens-like region of the sole surface and with a base-line defining a transition region between the curved convex protrusion and the rest of the sole. 
     
     
         9 . Shoe sole according to  claim 1 , wherein the local hardness of a first sole portion is greater than the local hardness of a second sole portion adjacent to said first sole portion and wherein said first sole portion and said second sole portion have the same thickness. 
     
     
         10 . Shoe sole according to  claim 9 , wherein the entire sole has substantially the same thickness. 
     
     
         11 . Shoe sole according to  claim 1 , wherein the sole comprises a hard region having greater hardness than surrounding soft regions of the sole and extending at least along parts of said substantially S-shaped line. 
     
     
         12 . Shoe sole according to  claim 11 , wherein said hard region has a trapezoidal hardness profile in a plane perpendicular to the substantially S-shaped line defining a maximum hardness core region and defining a decreasing hardness transition region on each side of said core region, where the hardness decreases from said maximum hardness to a lesser hardness of said soft regions. 
     
     
         13 . Shoe sole according to  claim 12 , wherein said hard region has a rectangular hardness profile in a plane perpendicular to the substantially S-shaped line defining a maximum hardness core region and defining a region having the lesser hardness of said soft regions on each side of said core region. 
     
     
         14 . Shoe sole according to  claim 11 , wherein said hard region has a curved convex hardness profile in a plane perpendicular to the substantially S-shaped line defining a hardness maximum and defining a decreasing hardness transition region on each side of said hardness maximum, where the hardness decreases from said hardness maximum to a lesser hardness of said soft regions. 
     
     
         15 . Shoe sole according to  claim 1 , wherein the difference in local thickness and/or in local hardness between a first sole portion and a second sole portion adjacent to said first sole portion is greatest in said midfoot portion extending between said heel portion and said ball portion. 
     
     
         16 . Shoe sole according to  claim 1 , wherein said first sole portions on said substantially S-shaped line and/or said second sole portions on both sides of said substantially S-shaped line comprise a plurality of slits spaced in the longitudinal direction of the sole along said substantially S-shaped line and extending in a transverse direction of the sole across said substantially S-shaped line. 
     
     
         17 . Shoe sole according to  claim 1 , wherein the ball portion has a first metatarsal part, a second metatarsal part, a third metatarsal part, a fourth metatarsal part and a fifth metatarsal part between the medial side M and lateral side L of the shoe sole, and wherein the following conditions apply to the transverse thickness and/or hardness profile of the ball portion:—the thickness and/or hardness of the first metatarsal part is greater than the thickness and/or hardness of the second metatarsal part; and—the third metatarsal part has a thickness and/or hardness less than the thickness and/or hardness of the fourth metatarsal part; and—the fourth metatarsal part has a thickness and/or hardness less than the thickness and/or hardness of the fifth metatarsal part. 
     
     
         18 . Shoe sole according to  claim 17 , wherein the second metatarsal part has a thickness and/or hardness less than the thickness and/or hardness of any of the third, the fourth and the fifth metatarsal parts. 
     
     
         19 . Shoe sole according to  claim 1 , wherein the width, as measured across said S-shaped line, of said locally thicker and/or harder first sole portion of said midfoot portion is smaller than the width, as measured across said S-shaped line, of said locally thicker and/or harder first sole portion of said heel portion. 
     
     
         20 . Shoe sole according to any one of  claim 1 , wherein the width, as measured across said S-shaped line, of said locally thicker and/or harder first sole portion of said midfoot portion is smaller than the width, as measured across said S-shaped line, of said locally thicker and/or harder first sole portion of said ball portion. 
     
     
         21 . Shoe sole according to  claim 1 , wherein the local thickness T and/or the local hardness H of said locally thicker and/or harder first sole portion of said heel portion decreases from the medial side M towards the lateral side L of the shoe sole.