Patent ID: 7418755

Claim:
A method of supporting an injured foot, comprising: providing a walking shell having inner and outer surfaces and one or more upright struts, wherein the outer surface is a walking surface and the inner surface is a foot bed designed to receive and support a mid-sole; mounting a premolded mid-sole in the foot-bed, the mid-sole having a foot shaped cavity having a bottom surface with upwardly curving sides; said mid-sole formed of a material having the characteristic of yielding without taking a compression set; placing a self-molding inner-sole having a foot receiving upper surface and a bottom surface adapted to fit over the upper surface of the mid-sole in a manner that allows the inner-sole to conform itself closely to a foot and fit tightly against the upwardly curving walls of the mid-sole; placing a foot on the foot receiving upper surface of the self-molding inner-sole over the foot receiving cavity in the mid-sole; putting weight on the foot, thereby conforming and compressing the self-molding inner-sole closely against the loaded foot between the bottom and sides of the foot and the foot-shaped cavity; said foot shaped cavity having a width and depth such that in response to foot pressure the peripheral edges of said foot are loaded by said upwardly curving sides of said foot shaped cavity prior to said bottom of said foot shaped cavity loading the bottom of said foot; and securing a lower leg to said one or more upright struts after said inner-sole is compression molded.