Ambulatory protective device

An ambulatory protective device for wearing on a person's foot with a diabetic condition, the device comprising:

• an insole located in the device and extending in length and width sufficient to form a footbed having forefoot and heel areas sized to receive thereon a forefoot and a heel, respectively, of a user, when the device is worn on the foot, whereby the insole has an unloaded state when not bearing weight associated with the wearer, and a maximum loaded state when bearing a preselected maximum weight to be associated with the wearer;
• wherein the insole includes at least first, second, and third overlying layers, the first and third layers consisting essentially of non-viscous, resiliently compressible foam;
• wherein the second layer is disposed between the first and third layers, the second layer having a stratum of non-viscous, resiliently compressible foam, the second layer having two chambers defined in the stratum by respective, inwardly facing perimeter walls, the chambers positioned at the forefoot and the heel areas of the footbed, respectively;
• wherein the insole includes two, viscoelastic inserts, each of the inserts received in respective ones of the chambers, the viscoelastic inserts having respective outer perimeters and corresponding circumferences, the outer perimeters spaced about their respective circumferences from the inwardly facing perimeter walls of respective ones of the chambers to form a gap between the inserts and the inwardly facing perimeter walls;
• wherein the gap has a dimensional value when the insole is in an unloaded state, the dimensional value of the gap in the unloaded state being preselected to maintain spacing between the outer perimeters of the viscoelastic inserts and the inwardly facing perimeter walls of the chambers when the insole is subjected to a predetermined, maximum weight associated with the person;
• whereby, when the device is worn during ambulation, in response to a given compressive force on the forefoot area and heel area of the footbed, the corresponding insert compresses more slowly during a given unit of time than portions of the stratum adjacent the corresponding insert, and in response to lessening of a given compressive force during toe-off phase of the ambulation, the insert rebounds more quickly per the given unit of time than the portions of the stratum adjacent the corresponding insert;
• and
• whereby the heel area and the midfoot area of the footbed experience at least 30% less average maximum pressure over the given unit of time than if the footbed were without the insole.