%){kind=logo}
The Osgood File - Featuring Insolia Insoles
for High Heel Foot Pain Relief
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to make shoes. But Brian Hughes an MIT grad ... has now gone into the business of using high tech engineering to produce inserts that make high heel shoes comfortable.
Transcript
THE QUEST FOR COMFORTABLE HIGH HEELS
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to make shoes. But Brian Hughes an MIT grad who ran his own hybrid rocket development has now gone into the business of using high tech engineering to produce inserts that make high heeled shoes comfortable.
Former rocket scientist Brian Hughes used to wear platform shoes back in the 70's, (remember those?), and he remembers how his feet used to hurt.
"I felt the pain." said Brian Hughes, Chairman and Product Engineer, HBN Shoe LLC.
So with a New Hampshire podiatrist he took an engineering approach to fix the problem so many women know all too well.
"The solution is not to treat the pain, it's to treat the fundamental problem which is the weight sliding down your heel and landing on your forefoot." said Hughes.
The Insolia inserts now on the market from HBN SHOE of Salem New Hampshire mitigate what's called the ramp effect of high heels.
"Put something up at the heel that holds your foot and stops you from sliding down." said Hughes.
Using F-Scan a flexible computer mapping system they put the foot in the optimal position at varying heel heights.
"It re-balances the weight so that typically the weight that's on the forefoot gets shifted back to the heel so instead of having almost three quarters of your weight on the forefoot it's balanced about 50/50 which is the way it should be." said Hughes.
The former rocketeer says he never thought he'd be in the fashion business. However women who love high heels but hate what they do to your feet have now made it clear to him that his engineering skills are more appreciated than his rocket engineering ever was. Hughes found that out when he was explaining the Insolia principle at a luncheon.
"One of the women at the table literally leaned over grabbed my jacket and told me 'I need these heels." said Hughes.
It was never like that in the rocket business, he says.
The Osgood File. February 9, 2007
