Insolia is a component in the design of the

high-heeled shoe High-heeled shoes, also known as high heels, are a type of shoe with an angled sole. The heel in such shoes is raised above the ball of the foot. High heels cause the legs to appear longer, make the wearer appear taller, and accentuate th ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

podiatrist A podiatrist ( ) is a medical professional devoted to the treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle, and related structures of the leg. The term originated in North America but has now become the accepted term in the English-speaking world for ...

Dr. Howard Dananberg. It reduces the pain associated with wearing high-heeled shoes by adjusting

weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is the force acting on the object due to gravity. Some standard textbooks define weight as a Euclidean vector, vector quantity, the gravitational force acting on the object. Others define weigh ...

distribution back toward the heel through altering the geometry of the insole, rather than with padding.

Concept

With ordinary high-heeled shoes, the body weight is concentrated to the

toe Toes are the digits (fingers) of the foot of a tetrapod. Animal species such as cats that walk on their toes are described as being ''digitigrade''. Humans, and other animals that walk on the soles of their feet, are described as being ''plant ...

s; this can make the wearer uncomfortable. The Insolia design shifts some of this weight back to the

heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower Human leg, leg. Structure To distribute the compressive for ...

in an attempt to reduce high heel foot pain. The weight shift is accomplished by altering the geometry of the

insole A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the Foot, human foot. They are often worn with a sock. Shoes are also used as an item of decoration and fashion. The design of shoes has varied enormously through time and from cult ...

Technology

The original commercial implementation was an insole board that combined the structural elements of a high heel insole board with the patented Insolia contours. In early 2005, HBN Shoe developed the current implementation: an insole supplement that modifies a traditional high heel to give it the Insolia weight shifting geometry. This implementation is protected in the EU by one issued patent and other patents are pending in the US, the EU, and elsewhere. Insolia now also markets an after-market version that can be easily installed in shoes by consumers via its website.

References

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External links

Insolia (Official Website for high heel foot pain)U.S. Patent 5,782,015

Insolia on Twitter''Insolia(R) Surpasses 1 Million in Sales and Solidifies Global Position''
7 February 2005 Shoe brands High-heeled footwear