Although he engineered many different shoe designs, he was frustrated that the orthopedic shoes he and others designed were not delivering the therapeutic results he desired. Having worked with people in pain for many years, he eventually concluded that shoes alone would never solve their problems.

It also became apparent to him that a large proportion of the population was engaged in trades or professions that placed a great deal of strain on the foot. He felt that poorly fitted shoes and standing improperly often resulted in an unnatural development of the foot, bringing about long lasting and painful problems.

With this background, and after twenty years of observation and working with thousands of people with and without foot related problems, he had a critical insight: If an arch support could be designed that modeled the ideal human foot, it might be able to train the abnormal foot by providing and ideal model for it to copy.

It would have the further benefit of helping the problem foot maintain correct biomechanical function by supporting the many arches of the human foot.

Not surprisingly, given his holistic approach to health, Mr. Alzner was also very interested in deep muscle massage and founded a school in London, Ontario, Canada to practice and teach. After working in hospitals for many years, treating hundreds of people suffering from foot, leg and back pain, he saw that this approach, in addition to good shoes and arch supports, could also provide benefit.

His personal philosophy and conviction was that when one member of the human family suffers, all suffer. He felt the same way about the body as a whole with its many parts. Each part is closely dependent upon the others for proper functioning and vitality.

A major impetus for his research into the structure and function of the foot was the incredible number of quality of life problems he observed in the general population, such as chronic leg and knee pain, back ache and postural abnormalities that could be traced back to problems in the very foundation of the human body… the feet.

We hope that Georg would be very pleased to see his amazing invention still helping millions of people worldwide some fifty years after he first figured it out.