US20090094859A1

US20090094859A1 - functional footwear

Info

Publication number: US20090094859A1
Application number: US12/296,272
Authority: US
Inventors: Sang Gon Baek
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-04-14
Filing date: 2007-03-30
Publication date: 2009-04-16
Also published as: JP2009533132A; CN101415346A; KR100817411B1; WO2007119941A1; RU2008140342A; EP2007239A1; KR20070102146A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a functional footwear which comprises an sole having a toe-seating portion, whose height is higher than that of the remaining portion thereof other than the toe-seating portion, for allowing a user's toe to be seated thereon. The toe-seating portion of the sole of the functional footwear is formed higher than the remaining portion of the sole other than the toe-seating portion, so that toes of a walker are placed higher than the other portions of the sole of the feet of the walker, thereby obtaining an effect of the backward walking even when the walker walks forwardly.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a functional footwear, in more particular, to a functional footwear which comprises a sole having a toe-seating portion, whose height is higher than that of the remaining portion thereof other than the toe-seating portion, for allowing a user's toe to be seated thereon.

BACKGROUND ART

As an interest in human health has been increased along with a gradual improvement in the social life and economical development, a simple exercise easily performed in a daily life has been settled. In particular, a safe walking has been generalized which is available for everyone regardless of age or sex and is enjoyable without any special equipment or cost.
In such walking, forward walking as well as backward walking is popular. The backward walking has several advantages in that it stimulates muscles which are not normally used in the forward walking, and also has less impact than the forward walking when a user's feet come into contact with the ground. Further, when the user walks backwardly at the same velocity as that in forward walking, the backward walking has a greater calorie consumption than that in the forward walking.
Nevertheless, since a person who walks backwardly has a danger of collision or stumbling against another walker, the backward walking is relatively not widely performed as compared to the forward walking.
Since a footwear is indispensable for such walking exercise and absolutely influences an exercise effect, various kinds of footwear have been currently suggested in order to increase an exercise effect at the time of walking.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

Technical Problem

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in an effort to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a functional footwear which comprises an sole having a toe-seating portion formed at the front portion thereof for allowing a user's toe to be seated thereon so as to remove dangers occurring when backward walking, so that an effect of the backward walking can be obtained while forward walking.

Technical Solution

In order to accomplish the above objects, according to the present invention, there is provided a functional footwear comprising an upper, an insole, and an sole, wherein the sole comprises a toe-seating portion formed at the front portion thereof for placing a user's toe thereon, the height of the toe-seating portion being higher than that of the remaining portion thereof other than the toe-seating portion, and the inner end of the toe-seating portion being concavely curved so as to allow a user's toes to be comfortably seated thereon.
Preferably, the toe-seating portion of the outsole has a height of 0.5 to 1 cm.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further objects and advantages of the invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a functional footwear according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a functional footwear according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the use state of a functional footwear according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the invention will be explained in detail with reference to the appended drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, a functional footwear 10 of the present invention mainly comprises an sole 14 for supporting the sole of a user's foot, an upper 12 for covering a user's foot, and an insole 20 inserted into the inside of the footwear 10. Preferably, the insole 20 is separated and washed when being dirty, and separately mounted from the footwear 10 so as to be replaceably used, whenever needed. According to this invention, the functional footwear 10 is not limited in running shoes and contains all kinds of shoes.
The sole 14 according to the present invention has a toe-seating portion 16 formed on the front portion thereof for allowing a user's toe 22 to be seated thereon, whose height (h) is higher than that of the remaining portion other than the toe-seating portion 16 thereof. At this time, the remaining portion of the sole 14 has an identical con-figuration to that of a typical sole 14.
Generally, the sole 14 consists of an outsole and a midsole. An attached drawing with the functional footwear 10 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is drawn to a formed sole 14 entirely. However, in case of the outsole and midsole being separated and formed, it is natural that the upper side of the midsole is formed in the toe-seating portion 16.
Typically, when backward walking on shoes, the toe 22 of a walker is elevated and movement of muscles is different from the movement of muscles when forward walking. When backward walking on the functional footwear 10 of the present invention, the toe 22 of a walker is maintained in a state where it is elevated even when forward walking. Thus, an exercise effect of the backward walking can be obtained even when forward walking.
The height (h) of the toe-seating portion 16 is preferably formed to have a height of 0.5 to 1 cm. When wearing the functional footwear 10 having the toe-seating portion 16 with a height smaller than 0.5 cm, a walker hardly has a sufficient exercise effect obtained when the toe 22 of the walker is sufficiently elevated. Further, when wearing the functional footwear 10 having the toe-seating portion 16 with a height higher than 1 cm, the toe 22 of the walker is overstrained. Therefore, the height of 0.5 to 1 cm is most suitable for the toe-seating portion 16.
Besides, the inner end of the toe-seating portion 16 is concavely curved so as to allow the toe 22 of the walker to be comfortably seated thereon, because the toe 22 of the human body are shaped to be concavely curved.
Further, as shown in FIG. 3, since the toe-seating portion 16 is formed at the front portion of the sole 14 in such a manner that the height (h) of the toe-seating portion 16 is higher than the remaining portion of the sole 14 other than the toe-seating portion 16, the height (h) of the front portion of the upper 12 is preferably set in proportional to that of the toe-seating portion 16.
When the functional footwear 10 in which the insole 20 is inserted is wore, the toe 22 gets placed higher than other parts as the front portion of the insole 20 above naturally changes in the shape of the toe-seating portion 16 of the sole 14 by the walker's weight as shown in FIG. 3.
In accordance with the functional footwear 10 constructed as described above, since the toe 22 of a walker is relatively highly placed unlike the other typical footwear, muscles which are not normally used in a daily life are used to promote uniform development of muscles of the human body, thereby strengthening muscles of the femoral region and the waist of the human body.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As described above, according to the present invention, the toe-seating portion of the sole of the functional footwear is formed higher than the remaining portion of the sole other than the toe-seating portion, so that toes of a walker are placed higher than the other portions of the sole of the feet of the walker, thereby obtaining an effect of the backward walking even when the walker walks forwardly.
While the present invention has been described with reference to the particular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by the embodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciated that those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

Claims

1. A functional footwear,

wherein the sole comprises a toe-seating portion formed at the front portion thereof for allowing a user's toe to be seated thereon, the height of the toe-seating portion being higher than that of the remaining portion thereof other than the toe-seating portion, and the inner end of the toe-seating portion being concavely curved so as to allow a user's toes to be comfortably seated thereon.

2. The functional footwear according to claim 1, wherein the height of the toe-seating portion has a height of 0.5 to 1 cm.