Self-contained fluid pressure foot support device

A foot support member comprising:

• a pressure-tight bladder, suitably shaped to support at least a portion of the foot, and adapted to contain a pressurized fluid without distending or otherwise losing its shape when pressurized and subjected to the compressive forces associated with the shifting weight of the human foot;
• said bladder being further characterized in that the walls thereof are thin, non-elastic and flexible, and at least the inner surfaces thereof are coated with a fluid-impervious thickness of heat sealable material;
• a plurality of void, non-pressurizable regions within said bladder defined by sealing together the upper and lower walls of said bladder in a predetermined pattern disposed generally perpendicular to the transverse axis of the bladder, and comprising at least twenty percent (20%) of the total surface of the bladder which is exposed to the foot;
• a plurality of internal pressurizable chambers within said bladder, defined by the pattern of said void regions, at least some of which chambers are fluidly communicable with adjacent chambers;
• fluid passageways located around the periphery of said bladder to permit pressurized fluid flow between at least some chambers and defined between the outer walls of the bladder and the internal sealed off regions of the bladder, said passageways being sized appropriately such that the fluid flow from one chamber is restricted, when the bladder is pressurized, as a result of the flexible walls of the bladder folding over themselves at the fluid passageways.