Patent ID: 7805859

Claim:
A cushioning system for a human foot in a stationary or mobile state, or while transitioning between said stationary state and said mobile state, said system comprising: (a) a sole member, said sole member further comprising a recessed supporting surface and a non-recessed supporting surface; (b) a supporting member, wherein said supporting member provides a progressively resistive support adaptive to the shape of said human foot during a compression operation while minimizing an unintended agglomeration of force supporting members a. wherein said supporting member further comprises at least one of a flexible skin member, an elastic skin member, and at least a partially inelastic skin member; (c) one or more force supporting members including elongated non-spherical rigid bodies; (d) containing means located on a portion of said sole member for containing said one or more force supporting members; and wherein said inelastic skin member bounds at least a portion of a plurality of said force supporting member.