CAST SHOE

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to medical equipment, and particularly to a cast shoe.

2. Description of Related Art

Cast shoes are for a patient to wear after foot surgery or injury. To prevent the surgical site or the injury portion of the patient's foot from moving or flexing, a conventional cast shoe has a shoe sole made of a rigid material to stabilize and protect the patient's feet.

However, since the shoe sole of the conventional cast shoe is made of one single rigid material and thus lacks the ability of shock-absorbing, the reaction force from the ground directly acts on the patient's feet during walking, which causes the patient's discomfort. Besides, the shoe sole of the conventional cast shoe often has a lower coefficient of friction such that the patient is more likely to slip on the ground to cause a secondary damage.

To overcome the shortcomings of the conventional cast shoe, the present invention tends to provide a cast shoe to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main objective of the present invention is to provide a cast shoe that reduces discomfort during walking and improves slip-proof ability.

The cast shoe has a rigid sole, an outsole, and a shoe upper. The rigid sole is made of a mixture of polypropylene impact copolymers and thermoplastic rubber. The outsole is disposed under the rigid sole, is made of thermoplastic rubber, and has multiple slip-proof protrusions formed on a bottom of the outsole. The shoe upper is disposed on the rigid sole and forms a wearing space with the rigid sole. The outsole has a lower hardness than the rigid sole.

Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view of a cast shoe of a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional side view of the cast shoe across line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a bottom side view of the cast shoe in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a top side view of the cast shoe in FIG. 1 with a shoe upper being unfolded and a shoe pad being omitted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a cast shoe of a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention has a rigid sole 10, an outsole 20, and a shoe upper 30. The cast shoe prevents a user's foot from moving or flexing by the rigid sole 10 and is configured to contact the ground with the outsole 20. The shoe upper 30 is utilized to cover the user's foot.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the rigid sole 10 is located at a middle of the cast shoe to stabilize the user's foot. In the present invention, the rigid sole 10 is made of a mixture of polypropylene impact copolymers and thermoplastic rubber to have sufficient hardness such that the rigid sole 10 is less likely to deform and can exactly prevent the user's foot from moving or flexing. In some embodiments, the rigid sole 10 can be manufactured by co-injection molding.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the outsole 20 is disposed under the rigid sole 10; the outsole 20 has a lower hardness than that of the rigid sole 10 for shock-absorbing during the user's walks. In the present invention, the outsole 20 is made of thermoplastic rubber to have sufficient elasticity such that the outsole 20 can absorb the reaction force from the ground during the user's walks.

Specifically, in the preferred embodiment, the rigid sole 10 made of polypropylene impact copolymers and thermoplastic rubber has a Shore hardness of 95A, and the outsole 20 made of thermoplastic rubber has a Shore hardness of 55A.

In some embodiments, the rigid sole 10 and the outsole 20 having different hardness may be connected to each other by gluing; in the preferred embodiment, the rigid sole 10 and the outsole 20 are connected to each other by two-shot molding, which improves strength and stability of connection between the rigid sole 10 and the outsole 20. Specifically, the rigid sole 10 can be formed by co-injection molding first, and then the material of the outsole 20 (thermoplastic rubber) is injected into a mold with the rigid sole 10 placed therein to form the outsole 20 connected to the rigid sole 10. In process, the rigid sole 10 may form recesses, protrusions or other structures to be tightly engaged with the outsole 20.

With reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, the outsole 20 has multiple slip-proof protrusions 21 formed on a bottom of the outsole 20, wherein the multiple slip-proof protrusions 21 respectively have shapes of circle, quadrilateral, or other polygons. In different embodiments, positions, shapes, and number of the multiple slip-proof protrusions 21 can be different according to design of the cast shoe and are thus not specifically described and limited in the preferred embodiment.

With reference to FIGS. 1, 3, and 4, the shoe upper 30 is disposed on the rigid sole 10 and is made of cloth. Specifically, with reference to FIG. 2, the shoe upper 30 is connected to the rigid sole 10 by sewing. With reference to FIG. 2, the shoe upper 30 forms a wearing space S between the shoe upper 30 and the rigid sole 10 for the user's foot to be placed therein.

With reference to FIGS. 2 and 4, in the preferred embodiment, the cast shoe further has a shoe pad 40. When a user wears the cast shoe, the shoe upper 30 is first unfolded as shown in FIG. 4, and the shoe pad 40 is then disposed on the rigid sole 10 such that the user's foot can be placed on the shoe pad 40. In the preferred embodiment, the rigid sole 10 is a frame having a reticulated construction, and the shoe pad 40 is disposed on the reticulated construction of the rigid sole 10. The reticulated construction reduces the weight of the rigid sole 10 and still allows the rigid sole 10 to have sufficient strength to support and stabilize the user's foot.

After the user's foot is placed on the shoe pad 40, the user's foot can be covered by the shoe upper 30. Specifically, with reference to FIG. 4, in the preferred embodiment, the shoe upper 30 has two wing portions 31 disposed on two opposite sides of the rigid sole 10. By overlapping the two wing portions 31 above the user's foot, the shoe upper 30 and the rigid sole 10 enclose and form the wearing space S therebetween as shown in FIG. 2.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 4, in the preferred embodiment, the cast shoe has several hook and loop fasteners 50. Each one of said hook and loop fasteners 50 has a hooks surface and a loops surface respectively disposed on the two wing portions 31. Thereby, the two wing portions 31 can be fastened by said hook and loop fasteners 50 so as to prevent the shoe upper 30 from being inadvertently unfolded.

When the user is walking with the cast shoe, the rigid sole 10 having higher hardness is configured to stabilize and protect the user's foot, which prevents the user's foot from inadvertently moving or flexing to interfere with the surgical site or the injury portion; the outsole 20 having lower hardness (higher elasticity) contacts the ground and is configured to absorb the reaction force from the ground during walking, which prevents the reaction force from directly acting on the user's foot and reduces discomfort of walking with the cast shoe.

Also, the outsole 20 contacts the ground with the multiple slip-proof protrusions 21, which increases the friction force between the outsole 20 and the ground. By the multiple slip-proof protrusions 21, the outsole 20 prevents the user from slipping and prevents the user's foot from secondary damage.

Compared to the conventional cast shoe having the shoe sole made of one single rigid material, the cast shoe of the present invention has the outsole 20 having a lower hardness than that of the rigid sole 10 and having the multiple slip-proof protrusions 21, which not only absorbs the reaction force from the ground but also prevents the user from slipping. Comfort and safety of wearing the cast shoe can thus be improved.

Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and features of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in the details, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.