Patent ID: 7028419

Claim:
Footwear comprising a sole for supporting a foot, an upper attached to the sole for covering the foot and adjoining ankle, said sole and upper defining an interior of the footwear sized and shaped for receiving the foot and ankle, said upper having an outer shell forming an exterior of the footwear, an inner lining adjacent the foot and ankle when they are received in the interior of the footwear, and a compressible generally U-shaped pad positioned between the shell and the lining of the upper, said pad having a bottom section and a pair spaced-apart side sections extending up from the bottom section, said pad being sized and positioned in the upper such that when the foot and ankle are received in the footwear the bottom section of the pad is disposed immediately below a medial malleolus of the foot and the side sections of the pad extend along opposite sides of the medial malleolus up to at least about a distal neck of the tibia whereby upon movement of the foot and ankle in the footwear the pad is adapted to apply an intermittent pressing force to tissue of the ankle below and at opposite sides of said medial malleolus to reduce swelling of the ankle, and inside tiller material between the shell and lining and between the side sections of the pad, said pad having a hardness and resistance to compression greater than that of said inside filler material.