A successful premiere

Casual footwear with a custom-made footbed: using the Bodytronic ID:CAM web application, an assembly kit for thong sandals with an individually modeled and milled cushion layer can now be ordered. The Seeger medical supply retailer in Berlin was one of the first medical supply retailers to use the new feature, with the assistance of famous test subjects from ALBA Berlin.

“We’re pleased that we’re among the first who have tested this new feature and can now work with it,” says Denise Kümperling, expert advisor for movement analyses at Seeger. “Today, we’re providing the two professional basketball players Jonas Mattisseck and Louis Olinde from ALBA Berlin with two pairs of thong sandals.” The two athletes, who also wear foot orthoses in their other shoes, had the data required for their foot status determined during a previous foot pressure measurement appointment.

The experts at Seeger used this to configure the custom cushion layers for the thong sandals in Bodytronic ID:CAM. Shortly after being ordered, the two assembly kits arrived at Seeger comprising a milled cushion layer, midsole, outsole and straps. The final adjustment to fit the athletes’ feet is now taking place during another appointment: “We position the strap and arrange all the components. Afterwards, the individual parts only have to be assembled into the whole shoe,” explains Martin Pöscha, orthotist at Seeger.

Tradition relying on high-tech

Seeger Gesundheitshaus GmbH & Co. KG is represented across Berlin, Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt with more than 60 branches. Founded in 1938, the company’s focus is on orthopedic shoe technology, in addition to rehabilitation and medical technology, home care, occupational health management and orthotics. Their range includes custom-made orthopedic footwear and therapeutic shoes, off-the-shelf shoes fitted to suit the patient’s feet and custom-made orthopedic foot orthoses, of course. To manufacture the latter, the company has been relying on Bauerfeind’s Bodytronic ID:CAM web application since 2017. During this process, the orthotist models the foot orthoses online. The program is the orthotist’s digital workbench, in a way, where the customer’s previously recorded foot-specific data is processed. To do this, three profiles are available: “Basic”, “Advanced” and “Professional”. The designed foot orthoses are then milled by Bauerfeind and sent to the medical retailer.

Obvious practical benefits

DThe benefits of this system solution are obvious to Seeger medical supply retailer: “The absolute reproducibility of the foot orthoses is the biggest advantage of the web application for us. All data is available at all times – just like the online solution itself, which we can access from anywhere,” reports Marko Gänsl, Head of Orthopedic Technology at Seeger.

“Another huge plus is the speedy delivery of the milled foot orthoses provided by Bauerfeind. They arrive within one to three days,” Denise Kümperling adds. The Seeger experts exclusively work with the “Professional” profile, i.e. they configure and model the foot orthoses themselves. “Bodytronic ID:CAM is perfect for companies that don’t want to invest in complex in-house solutions. It offers them all the required capabilities for making foot orthoses,” explains Marko Gänsl.

A valuable addition

It comes as no surprise that the new feature for modeling cushion layers for thong sandals was also met with great interest at the Seeger medical retail store. “With this, we can now offer our patients the same kind of comfort and identical foot cushioning in open footwear that they have with their other shoes,” Marko Gänsl emphasizes. “That means they don’t depend on closed footwear on hot summer days but can choose a much more airy alternative that still provides the same support and correction they need. Conventional unisex thong sandals certainly can’t do that.”

Fine-tuning to ensure the perfect fit

To ensure the perfect fit, orthotist Martin Pöscha starts with the precise positioning of the straps and toe thong, pointing out: “The position and the length of the straps are particularly important, for subsequent wearing comfort as well as for the supporting effect of the foot orthosis.”

In the subsequent standing test, only with the cushion layer and straps, Martin Pöscha checks the strap tension and the footbed pressure, and Jonas Mattisseck as well as Louis Olinde take the chance to evaluate the result: “The thong sandals feel really comfortable, both the material and the footbed,” is Louis Olinde’s first impression. Then, the straps are glued to the foot orthosis and combined with the midsole and outsole to create the finished thong sandals. Jonas Mattisseck is happy: “They fit like a glove! The wearing sensation is
absolutely perfect.”

Images: Bauerfeind, Thomas Lebie