That feels good
Have you ever tried to get something off of the top of the refrigerator that was way toward the back. To get it you had to stand on your tippy toes and reach so that it made your feet cramp? Well, try doing that for about thirty minutes and now you know what a ballerina has to do all the time. My foot feels crampy just thinking about it. Well, there are people who do enjoy ballet dancing, like Hadar Neeman. Neeman went to Bezalel University and studied art and design. It was there at the university that she came up with ballet shoe designed that could reduce the pain of standing en pointe (tip-toed) for so long.
What got her started
Neeman, for her final school project, designed 3D printed ballet shoes that make it easier for dancers. Many ballet dancers suffer injury because they have to support their whole body weight on their toes. When the muscles are overused in their toes to support their body, they have problems. This is true for a large majority of dancers (over 80%). What really motivated her to look into designing a better shoe, though, was when her friend suffered injury. This got her thinking about what could be done to improve the shoe, and it turn out there was a lot that could be done. To improve it, she would put to use 3D printing services and 3D laser scanning services.
What makes it better
So what is different about the 3D printed ballet shoe compared with Neeman’s 3D printed ballet shoe? First of all it is necessary to know how the normal ballet shoe works. The ballet shoe has a hard front end called the box and a stiff sole part of the shoe called a shank. The parts make it easy to stand on the tip of the toe. The rest of the shoe is a soft material. Neeman’s shoe, made with 3D laser scanning and 3D printing services, was made using a different material, an elastomeric polymer, that adds a shock absorbing quality to the shoe. It also replaces the usual material with one that allows the shoe to breathe more. Not only that, but it can be custom fitted using 3D scanning services and is built to last much longer than a traditional ballet shoe.
Neeman’s school project turned into a real benefit for Ballerina’s. Lets face it, if you are going to dance ballet, you might as well have a shoe that is not going to injure your foot. Thanks to designers like Neeman who put her wits to work using 3D laser scanning and 3D printing services. Although I still wouldn’t want to be a ballerina. For one, because I am a guy, and I think guys running around in tights on tippy toes is weird. Secondly if I was going to spend time learning how to dance, I would definitely spend it learning to old school breakdance or be a belly dancer, but hey, that’s just me.
