METATARSAL SAFETY GUARD FOR FOOTWEAR

摘要

A metatarsal guard (12) for footwear (10) comprises an arched body which covers a dorsal surface of a wearer's metatarsal foot area. The arched body has lateral bottom edges (30) for engaging a footwear sole (14) to transmit loads from the arched body to the footwear sole (14). Slits (40) are defined in a rear portion of the arched body so as to form a longitudinally extending central T-shaped tongue (42) and two longitudinally extending lateral tongues (48) in order to increase the flexibility of the metatarsal guard (12). The T-shaped tongue (42) has a rear edge (50) extending in a concave curved line transversally of the footwear (10) so as to prevent transmission of punctual loads to the wearer's foot. By optimizing the number and the configuration of the tongues, both the wearer's comfort and protection are maximized.