ATHOL — A lifelong resident has invented a shoe insert to help improve the lives of people like him, those with debilitating foot pain.

Francis Bushey founded FrankFoot Enterprises and has used his savings to make and sell trim-to-fit shoe inserts to provide relief to anyone with diabetic neuropathy, plantar fasciitis and other conditions that cause pain to the feet, knees and hips.

“You wear them for about a week and you won’t even be thinking about your feet anymore,” he said.

The insoles retail at tinyurl.com/FrankFoot for $30 and Bushey is working to find other vendors, but he said corporate pharmacies are contractually obligated to carry only certain brands.

“It’s the best insert in the world, I’ll tell you that,” he said.

Just a few years ago, Bushey was an experienced machinist in Athol and was hoping to stay the course another five years to reach retirement, but it became obvious his own diabetic nerve pain would not let him do that. He tried countless inserts and shoes and even went to a special pain clinic in Boston, but nothing worked.

“So I had to come up with a solution,” he said. “I tried different things and worked on different pads and things like that. And my sister’s an engineer for a major company in Boston and she introduced me to some material that they were using on a special project. … I stuck it in my shoe and I noticed right off the bat how effective this material was.”

It took him a year, but he tracked down the manufacturer and was told he would be given some material to experiment with. The material is used in the military and the aerospace industry. Bushey created an insert that worked, but he had to devise a way to enable the product to keep its molecular integrity without compromising the quality.

“It took quite a while to get everything together,” Bushey said, mentioning that he has a patent pending with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Chuck Bagg, a registered patent agent in Fitchburg, helped Bushey through the patent process.

He was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes about 30 years ago and the condition was manageable for a while before it began to worsen. He said he started wearing the insoles in his shoes a year ago and they have completely changed his quality of life for the better.

“Before I wore them, I was in agony. I’d get out of work, standing on a [concrete] floor all day long, and I’d get in my car and I’d just collapse,” the 64-year-old said. “I mean, I’d have no energy. It’d suck the life right out of you.”

He once struggled to walk 100 feet at a time and now goes for daily 3-mile strolls. Though he no longer works at that machine shop, he was so awed by the material’s quality that he decided to invest his savings into developing and marketing his product, knowing that if he fails he will have at least tried his best.

Bushey visited the Greenfield Recorder’s offices on Hope Street with samples of his inserts and some from other companies, including Dr. Scholl’s. He dropped a steel ball onto the various insoles, demonstrating that the other products’ thin material caused the ball to make a loud thud on a wood table, whereas the material from his product absorbs and deflects the impact.

“There’s nothing like it on the market,” he said.

Bushey also said it is important to him for FrankFoot insoles to be an American-made product. The inserts are made in Boston and they are sealed, labeled and packaged at Coleman Assembly & Packaging in Gardner by individuals supported by GAAMHA Inc. Bushey has also enlisted the assistance of the Wachusett Business Incubator, where Executive Director Magnus Carlberg has helped guide FrankFoot Enterprises just as he has with his dozen other current clients.

“I put my hand on their shoulder, just to give them support,” he said. “[Bushey] has done a good job and he’s got it out there. I think it’s a high-quality product.”

Carlberg said he suffers from plantar fasciitis and Bushey’s shoe inserts have given him relief.

“It has just offered me support,” he said. “He’s got a great thing going here, with a great product.”

Bushey mentioned he is in talks with podiatrists and at least one shoe company to help get his insoles to any many people as possible.

“I’m calling it a movement — the FrankFoot movement,” he said.

Bushey can be reached at 978-790-8412, 413-548-4102 or frankfoot.enterprises@gmail.com.

Reach Domenic Poli at dpoli@recorder.com.