Functional shoes that can help alleviate plantar fasciitis with a windlass mechanism and reduce the impact on the spine and knee joints

Abstract

Provided is a functional shoe that is capable of helping alleviation of plantar fascilitis and reducing an impact to the spine and knee joints by using a windlass mechanism that is capable of inducing a wearer's foot into a natural arch shape while changing to correspond to movement of the wearer's foot when wearer walks. The functional shoe that is capable of helping alleviation of plantar fasciitis with a windlass mechanism and reducing an impact to spine and knee joints is capable of allowing an instep of a wearer to be bent when walking and includes an outsole configured to support a sole of a foot and to support an arch of the foot by being bent in response to the bending of the foot when the wearer walks, and an upper coupled to the outsole to support the instep. The outsole includes an arch support protruding from a top surface of the outsole to support the arch of the wearer's foot, first bending induction grooves defined in plurality in a bottom surface of the outsole along a longitudinal direction of the outsole and configured to induce the bending of the outsole when the wearer walks, and second bending induction grooves defined in a side surface of the outsole along the longitudinal direction of the outsole and connected to the first bending induction grooves and configured to induce the bending of the outsole when the wearer walks. Each of the bending induction grooves and the second bending induction grooves is provided in a dome structure of which a width gradually decreases along a direction in which each bending induction groove is recessed from an outer surface of the outsole.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A functional shoe that is capable of allowing an instep of a wearer to be bent when walking, helping alleviation of plantar fasciitis with a windlass mechanism, and reducing an impact to spine and knee joints, the functional shoe comprising:
 an outsole configured to support a sole of a foot and to support an arch of the foot by being bent in response to the bending of the foot when the wearer walks; and   an upper coupled to the outsole to support the instep,   wherein the outsole comprises:
 an arch support protruding from a top surface of the outsole to support the arch of the wearer's foot; 
 first bending induction grooves defined in plurality in a bottom surface of the outsole along a longitudinal direction of the outsole and configured to induce the bending of the outsole when the wearer walks; and 
 second bending induction grooves defined in a side surface of the outsole along the longitudinal direction of the outsole and connected to the first bending induction grooves and configured to induce the bending of the outsole when the wearer walks, 
 wherein each of the bending induction grooves and the second bending induction grooves is provided in a dome structure of which a width gradually decreases along a direction in which each bending induction groove is recessed from an outer surface of the outsole. 
   
     
     
         2 . The functional shoe of  claim 1 , wherein the outsole further comprises a buffer groove recessed in a bottom surface of the outsole and configured to support and disperse a load transmitted through the foot,
 wherein the buffer groove is recessed to a depth greater than that of each of the first bending induction grooves and the second bending induction grooves and is provided in a dome structure of which a width gradually decreases along a direction in which the buffer groove is recessed from the outer surface of the outsole.   
     
     
         3 . The functional shoe of  claim 2 , wherein the buffer groove comprises:
 a first buffer groove configured to support and disperse a load applied to a heel; and   a second buffer groove extending from the first buffer groove in the longitudinal direction of the outsole to support and disperse a load applied to the arch of the foot,   wherein the first buffer groove has a width greater than that of the second buffer groove, and   the second buffer groove has a length greater than that of the first buffer groove.