Needle for use in reflexotherapy, and an applicator using the same

An applicator for use in reflexotherapy, comprising:

• a base member;
• a plurality of needles fixed in said base member;
• each said needle comprising a rod member having a sharp portion at a first end of said rod member, and a head portion at a second end thereof;
• said sharp portion has a pointed end;
• said head portion being wider than said rod member;
• said rod member having a central longitudinal axis disposed in a first predetermined direction;
• all head portions of said needles having major planar surfaces in a flat plane perpendicular to said first longitudinal axis of said rod member;
• said needles being fixed in said base member so that said sharp portions protrude from said base member;
• said rod member being made from a base material;
• said needles including one or more first needles made from and/or coated with a first material, and one or more second needles made from and/or coated with a second material;
• one or more third needles made from and/or coated with a third material having a different electrochemical potential than that of said first and second materials;
• the coating on at least one of said needles comprises a multilayer coating of different materials;
• the material in said needles and/or coatings being selected from steel, copper, chromium, nickel, silver, cobalt, aluminum, magnesium, zinc, tin, titanium, vanadium, beryllium, gold, platinum, palladium, strontium and tellurium or alloys or oxides thereof;
• said first and second materials having different electrochemical potentials;
• each said needle being adjacent to needles having base materials and coatings made from different materials;
• said rod member is covered with coatings of different material layers;
• said pointed end of said sharp portion is free of coatings of different material layers;
• said needles being arranged in said base member in a configuration whereby, when adjacent needles having sharp portions are exposed to a surface of contact with a user's epidermis, said sharp portions but not said pointed ends thereof are either coated with and/or are made from different materials;
• and
• said partially-covered needles expose a surface of contact between each needle and the user's epidermis to at least said first and second materials.