What Happens
Footscan Technology
About Footscan Technology
The technology was first developed in the 1980’s by Jempi Wilssens, a Belgian record-breaking athlete and engineer who wanted to help people to stay injury free. The first scanner was built from a modified photocopier and installed inside Wilssens’ small sports shoe store in Belgium.
By 1994, at the request of Adidas’ CEO who wanted the company to be the first sports brand in the world that could advise an injury-risk-free shoe using foot measurements, a new footscan system was developed. As commercial interest grew, so did clinical applications.
What Happened Next
Wilssens understood the need for orthotics, when a shoe wasn’t helping enough or wasn’t the right fit. Because of this he created an insole based on an algorithm calculated from the footscan data. To scale the operation, it became necessary to digitise the complete process and that’s where 3D printing comes in allowing orthotics to be bespoke manufactured quickly and accurately.
The Final Orthotics
The orthotics have a lattice structure allowing them to withstand the forces of daily wear and also allowing them to last much longer than traditional insoles usually milled from rubber or cork. They also look a lot sleeker and if the fabric cushioning on top begins to wear after a few years, patients can simply have it recovered.