Bro. Martin senior wants to help flat-feet sufferers

By Beth Donze
Clarion Herald

The flat feet Jayden Hall inherited from his father have given him chronic foot and ankle pain from the time he could walk.

Because Hall’s feet lack natural arch support, they  tend to “overpronate” – sink inward when he puts weight on them – placing extra stress on the adjacent tendons.

“I wanted to come up with an invention that would resonate with me, but also resonate with other people who may have the same condition that I have,” said Hall, a senior at Brother Martin High School in New Orleans. “I’ve suffered with foot problems all my life – just having to go to different podiatrists and different stores to buy the insoles – and that adds up very quickly.”

True to the proverb of necessity being “the mother of invention,” the 17-year-old was inspired to develop the concept for a clever “smart shoe” called TheraSole. Hall’s therapeutic shoe system, whose patent is pending, is designed to offer real-time monitoring, customization and continuous support for pain prevention, even tracking the user’s steps and connecting him or her with healthcare providers through a mobile app.

Hall’s idea led him to be named one of 126 champions of the 2024 National STEM Challenge, rising to the top echelon of 2,549 entrants from all 50 states. Open to students in grades 6-12, the contest invited young engineers to craft a STEM project that tackled a real-world problem and use the engineering design process to solve it. 

Monitors walking habits

Equipped with wireless Bluetooth capabilities, TheraSole tracks and alerts one’s smartphone with information such as the intensity of one’s strides and when it is advisable to take a break from walking.

“You might have a notification that says, ‘Your feet are going inward and you’re about to experience pain in the next five minutes,’” Hall said. “There are different sensors in the shoe that can tell you when you’re about to experience pain, or it can tell you to correct your feet before you start to hurt.

“If you don’t correct your feet at a certain time, it’s going to alert you and say, ‘OK, we’re going to correct it for you,’ and it’s going to bring your feet forward, to where you can walk correctly. The shoes are going to push up on you.”

Hall said that while commercial insoles provide short-term relief, the feet of many flat-footed people still ache at the end of the day. There is nothing like his smart shoe currently on the market, he said.

“It’s all about (providing) that long-term comfort,” Hall said. “This is a shoe that can help people who are always on their feet – construction workers, soldiers, teachers, nurses – anybody who’s always on their feet will be able to have that sense of long-term comfort.”

Well-rounded senior

In recognition of his achievement, Hall and his mother, Monica Hall, received an all-expenses paid trip to attend this month’s National STEM Festival in Washington, D.C. In addition to being blessed with a creative, engineering mind, Hall plays trumpet at Mass in the church choir of his parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe in New Orleans. He has played the instrument for nine years, initially in his elementary school bands at St. Anthony of Padua and Christian Brothers, and for all five years of his time at Brother Martin as part of the “Crusaders” marching and concert bands. 

Other accolades include being a member of the National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, senior class liaison for Student Ambassadors and yearbook co-editor.

This fall, Hall will attend Morehouse College in Atlanta, with plans to enter a dual-enrollment program that will enable him to take business classes at Morehouse and engineering courses at Georgia Tech.

“I want to get into a software engineering career,” Hall said.

Weekend enrichment

In addition to thriving in his Brother Martin science classes, Hall credits another “school” for encouraging his engineering pursuits. For the last decade, he has been mentored by the non-profit STEM NOLA, an organization that “helps underprivileged kids be able to experience the value of STEM and move forward in those careers,” he explained. 

STEM NOLA participants meet on Saturdays with STEM professionals to explore various science-related themes and take on related hands-on projects. One of those projects had the 8-year-old Hall building a small solar-powered car equipped with a motor and wind turbine.

“I was one of the first members (of STEM NOLA),” Hall said. “They provide the tools to push kids to be able to do what they want to do, because they don’t necessarily have that guidance to succeed. They gave me the tools and materials, as well as the advice and support, to get to where I am today.”

Until his nationally recognized concept for the TheraSole can be made into a prototype and manufactured, Hall said he will continue to gain temporary relief from the insoles and orthopedic shoes currently available in the marketplace.

“(Pain from having flat feet) is something that I take day by day,” he said. “There are some days where I feel like, ‘I can’t walk,’ and there are some days where I feel I can maybe take a jog. It’s all about trying to manage how long you walk. So, I try to take breaks, and when I know I need to stop, I’ll stop.” 

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