Designing Plantar Ortheses via FEM: Model Generation and Multimaterial Insole Testing

Foot disorders comprise a great variety of pathologies related to one of the most complex joints of the human body. Although surgery is in most cases an effective solution, less invasive solutions like the use of insoles are common in podiatry treatments. The study of the foot structure and via Finite Element Method (FEM) have demonstrated to be very useful to understand different aspects of its behaviour and associated pathologies. A procedure to generate individualized models of real patients, and insoles adapted to the specific pathology could be used as a new tool in podiatry. This, combined with 3D printing, would allow to print the insoles once tested, reducing the time of insole development and fabrication. Two different insoles were tested, analyzing the influence of materials in foot elastic strain, demonstrating that with an adequate foot model, the effect of different materials and insole shapes can be detected with FEM, adapting them to a particular pathology.