Prescription variables for the medical footwear

Medical footwear is a medical device used in the conservative treatment of foot and lower limb pathomechanics. The standard EN ISO 9999:2016 - "Assistive products for person with disability-Classification and terminology", includes orthopedic shoes in the category of foot orthoses which are medical devices that encompass the whole or part of the foot, being divided in two categories: prefabricated or custom fabricated. According to the legal requirements, a custom fabricated device is based on a medical prescription containing the specific design characteristics as established by the medical practitioner. In many situations from clinical practice, the medical prescription does not contain the specific design characteristics but only some generic data such as the name and type of the orthopedic footwear. The purpose of this paper is to review the basic prescription variables of the medical footwear according to the experience from developed foot care systems.