Process and apparatus for forming customized footwear

Claim 1

A process for forming customized footwear including the steps of forming a mold directly on the foot of the subject, and forming footwear from said mold having at last a portion of the interior configuration of the footwear substantially conforming to the configration of the suject's foot, wherein the improvement in said process comprises: at about the start of said step of forming said mold, directing a beam produced by range-of-motion apparatus against at last one of the subject's lower leg and foot, pronating and supinating the suject's foot through the maximum range of motion during said directing step, sensing the range of motion of said foot about the subtalar joint by a sensing element of said apparatus positioned to sense relative changes between said beam and said sensing element upon movement of the portion of the subject against which said beam is directed as a result of pronation and supination of said foot, generating an indicator signal when said foot is positioned at about one-third of the distance from the position of maximum pronation toward position of maximum supination, positioning the rearfoot complex of the bone structure of the foot in a neutral position upon generating of said indicator signal by said range-of-motion apparatus; and thereafter, maintaining said rear foot complex of the bone structure in said neutral position by continuing to sense any movement by said range-of-motion apparatus until said step of forming a mold includes forming a permanent impression of said foot in an indexed relation to a reference surface to enable said footwear to be formed during said footwear forming step with said interior configuration oriented with respect to the sole of said footwear for support of the subject's foot with the rearfoot complex of the bone structure in the neutral position.