Patent ID: 8128583

Claim:
A stimulator pad in the shape of an insole for footwear and having a sole region and a heel region, said stimulator pad comprising: a flexible support comprising two layers of flexible material bonded together to form a unitary structure, and a plurality of stimulator nodes secured to and supported by the sole region of the flexible support, said stimulator nodes each comprising a housing having at one end a base region secured relative to the flexible support and the other, distal, end defining an aperture which in use confronts a user's foot and in which there is resiliently located a pressure member comprising a plurality of pressure member components each for acting against the user's foot, the base region of each housing extending outwards in the form of a flange which lies sandwiched between said two layers of flexible support material with the housing of each stimulator node extending through a respective one of a plurality of apertures in an upper of said two layers, resilient biasing means provided within the housing to act between the flexible support or said base region of the housing and at least some of said pressure member components to urge said at least some of the pressure member components to protrude at the distal end of the housing, each said housing being more resistant to compression than the assembly of the pressure member components and resilient biasing means contained within said housing, said distal end of the housing being free to deflect laterally relative to the base region thereof, a resilient exercise device, comprising a hollow body of elastomeric material, secured to said flexible support and positioned at the heel region of the insole and adapted to act to promote circulation in use of footwear incorporating the stimulator pad as an insole, and a layer of flexible cover material secured to the upper layer of support material, said cover material extending over said pressure members at each stimulator node and being apertured at the heel region whereby the resilient exercise device extends through said cover layer for direct contact by a user.