Foot baths: what are needed and how to make them?

In the East, the legs are called "second heart", which is due to the large number of biologically active points on them. By stimulating them, you can act on certain organs, improve well-being, activate the body's defenses. One of the simplest and available methods of such exposure is foot baths.

Foot bath is a pleasant healing procedure, which involves immersing the feet in a water-based solution, usually with the addition of a decoction of medicinal plants, essential oils, salts, etc.

As a rule, bath recipes involve the use of components such as herbal infusions, salt or soda. Often these ingredients are "found" within the same bath.

Also, the procedure will require a pelvis, 1.5-2 liters of water and about half an hour of free time. That is how much the procedure lasts. After it is recommended to relax a little in a horizontal position, so you should add another 15-30 minutes. You can make baths just before bedtime.

Instead of the usual basin, you can use a hot tub, which will significantly increase the effectiveness of the procedure. It is a heat-resistant plastic container with a pimply bottom. These pimples, as well as attached massagers, massage and relax the legs. Such units can have the function of a jacuzzi, pumice nozzles, pedicure brushes and various washcloths.

As a rule, most models have a special compartment where herbal decoction or essential oils are poured. The temperature in the device is maintained at the same level, so there is no need to add hot water. Numerous modes allow you to choose the best, and the control is carried out through the buttons on the device or through the remote control.

The benefits of home foot baths, as well as their beneficial effects on the body as a whole, are due to a number of factors.

• First of all, we can talk about the positive effects of water, which relaxes, relieves fatigue.
• Hot and warm foot baths allow you to activate blood circulation, which is important for the proper functioning of all organs and systems. In addition, good blood circulation is one of the components of healthy and beautiful skin.
• Depending on the composition of the bath, it is possible to influence a particular organ pointwise, to provide a more targeted effect on the body. There are a large number of points on the feet, each of which is associated with a particular organ. The impact on these points in the process of foot baths suggests a general positive impact on the body, its strengthening, and an increase in the protective forces.

• Foot bath is able to both alleviate the condition after a hard day, and help in a number of diseases. In the first case, it is useful to resort to it for girls and women wearing shoes with heels, as well as for those who spend most of the day on their feet. Foot baths are used for diseases of the joints, colds, headaches and muscle pain, problems with the nervous system. In most cases, they are not an independent treatment, but in combination with other procedures and medication, they significantly accelerate recovery.

When the temperature rises, as well as during acute periods of illness, the baths should be discarded. Various entities, including cancer, should be a contraindication to the procedure.

When choosing a herbal or other bath should carefully study its composition. The presence in it of components for which you have an allergy or idiosyncrasy should cause a rejection of the procedure. The same applies to people suffering from inflammation in the legs, the presence of non-healing wounds. Exposure to water will make the healing process longer, and bath components will irritate the already inflamed skin.

The procedure is not recommended in the presence of cardiovascular diseases, spider veins, as well as during pregnancy. Precautions should be carried out with varicose veins and thrombosis. This is due to the fact that under the influence of hot water increases blood flow, which creates an additional load on the vessels and heart muscle, and can also cause uterine contraction.

Too hot baths provoke an increase in pressuretherefore, hypertensive patients should carefully monitor their condition and stop the procedure at the first symptoms of ill health. Prohibited hot procedures for diabetes, tuberculosis, thrombophlebitis. Partial or complete loss of sensitivity of the feet is also the reason for the undesirability of foot baths - the risk of getting burned is high.

All ingredients (unless otherwise indicated in the recipe) are prepared and added to the water immediately before the procedure, after which you must immediately lower your feet into the bath. It is important to follow the ratios of components indicated in the recipe, otherwise skin irritation and even burns can be obtained with significant concentrations of one of them.

The amount of water should be such that it completely covers the feet and reaches the ankles. Its temperature is better to regulate on the basis of their own preferences. It should be slightly higher than room temperature, warm feet significantly, but not cause discomfort. As the fluid cools, hot water can be added to the pelvis. It is better if the components that are used in the bath are also dissolved in the latter.

The duration of the bath should be at least 15-20 minutes, with a shorter duration, the therapeutic effect will be invisible. Therapeutic procedures are usually carried out in a course - 10-15 sessions 3 times a week. After that, the number of sessions can be reduced to one prophylactic per week.

Before the procedure, you should wash your feet with soap and then rinse your feet with clean water, you can do this alternately cool and warm enough. After the session, wipe the feet thoroughly with a towel, smear them with a suitable cream and put on cotton socks.

A pedicure bath should be carried out directly in front of the pedicure. It allows you to soften the skin, make the process more clean and painless. If after the bath corns and natoptysh are removed, and also any procedures involving damage to the integrity of the skin are done, thorough disinfection is necessary. To disinfect the skin should be before and after manipulation, it is important to treat your hands and tools with an antiseptic.

Foot baths are included in most relaxing and caring treatments offered by expensive spas. However, it is not difficult to prepare a healthy foot bath at home, especially since the ingredients for this will require the most affordable and affordable.

Consider the most popular ones, as well as the effect they provide.

• Soda. Soda has a softening and antiseptic effect, which allows it to be used in trays for tired feet, as well as for such problems as corns, knees, cracks in the feet. In addition, she copes with the problem of unpleasant smell and sweating feet. It goes well with herbal infusions.
• Salt. It is rich in minerals and trace elements that are vital for the body. It has analgesic, moisturizing and antimicrobial, healing (but should not be used in violation of the integrity of the skin) action. It is better to use sea salt, which is not difficult to find in a pharmacy or a specialized department of a cosmetics store.

It is recommended to purchase salt without additives, so you can supplement it with suitable herbs, essential oils, etc. If you purchased sea salt with additives, you should carefully select bath components to it, watching their compatibility with each other. Salt is combined with soda, iodine, herbs and essential oils, bath foam.

• Herbs. Herbal foot baths have a pronounced therapeutic effect, which depends on the selected raw materials. For example, lavender soothes, relieves puffiness and fatigue, needles - tones, helps with colds. When sweating the feet, the horsetail, oak bark, and rosemary flowers are well proven. Mint and nettle improve blood circulation, as well as save from cracks on the heels, and chamomile and linden (you can add honey to them) is the best way to get tired feet.
• Essential oils. Essential oils, depending on their type, provide a regenerating, antiseptic and analgesic effect. In addition, they relieve fatigue, improve blood circulation, help restore skin's softness and smoothness.

It is important to select the appropriate oil. So, orange oil is indicated for insomnia, in addition, it increases skin elasticity. Eucalyptus oil will relieve fatigue as well as pain in joint diseases.

The mint oil has a similar effect, which will alleviate fatigue to everything and give you a good healthy sleep. To cope with sweating allow oil of bergamot, cypress and tea tree.

Chamomile and arnica oils have analgesic and regenerating effects.

• Turpentine. It has a pronounced healing effect, anti-cough action. It is recommended for diseases of the joints, and baths based on it even allow you to return the mobility of the joints. You can add the effect of the bath rubbing turpentine.

As a rule, the fungus is “picked up” if the rules of personal hygiene in public places are not followed (in the bath, on the beach, in the pool). It is easily transmitted between family members. There is a disease of itching and swelling of the skin in the nail, its cracking, yellowing of the nails.

One of the ways to get rid of this trouble, as well as a tool that soothes itching for the fungus, is a bath.

• A high performance is demonstrated by a bath based on 2 liters of water, in which 1 tablespoon of salt (preferably sea salt) and soda are mixed. You can add a little liquid soap.
• The bath on the basis of tar and ordinary soap, taken in equal proportions to 2 liters of water, is also well known. There is also added a tablespoon of soda.

• You can make herbal infusion by mixing 1 teaspoon of celandine, calendula, lilac and oak bark. The mixture should be poured with a liter of boiling water and infused for 2-3 hours. Then dilute the composition with a small amount of boiling water so that its temperature reaches 38 ° C.

The duration of the sessions with the use of these solutions - 30 minutes. Baths should be done daily for 10 days, each time after wiping their feet thoroughly, and then lubricating them with a healing cream and putting on socks.When treating fungal diseases, it is important to use a clean towel each time (it should be individualized for each family member), change socks as often as possible, and treat the inner surface of the shoe with special disinfectant compounds. This will not only quickly get rid of the fungus, but also to avoid its recurrence.

It should be understood that sweating feet may be associated with a certain disease or be a sign of wearing the wrong shoes. In the first case, it is necessary to find and eliminate the cause.

In any case, these recipes will quickly get rid of sweating and unpleasant odor at home.

• One of the simplest, yet effective ways to cope with sweating is to brew 40 g of chamomile flowers with hot water (about 1 liter), to insist for an hour. After that, pour the infusion into a basin through a sieve, pour in the required amount of water.
• Another recipe for herbs involves the use of chamomile flowers, wormwood and needles, taken at 30 g. They should be poured with a liter of water, insisted for about an hour and, after filtering, pour into the basin. There also should be a tablespoon of salt and half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon.
• Another recipe from the “simple and effective” series is apple cider vinegar. At 2 liters of water should be added 5-6 tablespoons of vinegar.

The duration of the sessions is 20-30 minutes. They need to do the course - every other day for a month or until a persistent positive result.

• Baths with potassium permanganate will also allow you to quickly cope with sweating feet. In a glass of water should be dissolved 2 g of potassium permanganate and leave for a day. After this, pour the contents of the glass into the basin, add the required amount of water. Before use, you must ensure that the crystals of potassium permanganate are completely dissolved. Otherwise, you can get burned. The procedure time is 10 minutes.

Most people who spend a whole day or most of it spend standing up, they know the feeling of tired legs. They literally "buzz" and swell.

If the swelling is not a symptom of the disease, but only the result of fatigue, you can do herbal baths.

• 40 g of linden flowers pour a liter of boiling water and let it brew for half an hour. After filtering, the broth should be drained into the basin, putting in the same 1 tablespoon of sea salt.
• Instead of linden you can use chamomile flowers. Add to this composition can not salt, and a tablespoon of honey.
• Effectively relieves fatigue and composition based on mint and nettle, taken 1 tablespoon. Herbs are filled with 500 ml of water and infused for 7-10 minutes. Then poured into the basin and diluted with a small amount of warm water.
• Fragrant and tonic get a bath of dry orange and lemon peel. Each ingredient needs to take 1 glass, pour a liter of hot water and boil a little (5 minutes). After that, you just need to drain the solution into the basin and add a little water.

The recommended bath time is 20-30 minutes, after the session you should lie down a bit, raising your legs to a small height.

Female legs are usually more affected by dryness. This, in turn, causes the skin to be roughened and then cracked. Special baths help make the skin softer, as well as moisturize and speed up the healing process.

After they are recommended to rub the skin with pumice, wipe dry and lubricate with a moisturizer.

• To improve the condition of the "problem" legs will allow the composition on the basis of Hypericum and vinegar. To prepare it, 30 mg of grass should be filled with 500 ml of water and heated in a water bath for 10 minutes. Then insist another quarter of an hour and pour into the basin, where also pour 2 tablespoons of vinegar.
• You can also cook a tub of potato broth.It is necessary to cook in 2 liters of water 200-300 g of potato skins, then drain the resulting broth into the basin. Use after it has cooled slightly.
• You can do it easier and use ready-made potato starch. Corn is also suitable. The bottom line is that a tablespoon of starch should be poured with a liter of hot water, mix the composition and lower the legs into it. In this state, you need to stay for 15-20 minutes, then gradually introduce clean water, having sustained another 10-15 minutes.

The duration of the procedures with coarse, cracked skin is 30 minutes, they should be repeated daily until the condition improves.

• For heavily cornified skin, recipes are recommended with the addition of essential oil. To a liter of water you need to make a tablespoon of soda and 5-6 drops of essential oil of tea tree or rose. Instead of soda, you can add sea salt (tablespoon per liter of water), composing it with citrus essential oil (lemon, orange, grapefruit).
• If the rough skin has caused the formation of calluses and corns, it is necessary to conduct a therapeutic course of procedures based on sea salt and liquid ammonia. At 1.5 liters of water you need to make 2 tablespoons of each of these components and mix the mixture thoroughly. The duration of the session is 15 minutes. After the procedure, the skin will become soft, it will be possible to remove calluses and corns and sanitize the legs.

• There is another recipe with ammonia in the composition. For this, the latter is mixed with soda and soap. Each component is taken in 1 teaspoon per 2 liters of water. The duration of the procedure is half an hour, after which it is also necessary to remove calluses and corns and wipe the legs with an antiseptic composition.
• Another effective and potent foot bath, which should be no more than 5 minutes. For the first time it is better to reduce the exposure time to 2-3 minutes. To prepare the solution should be in 1.5 liters of hot water dissolve 4 tablespoons of peroxide. The latter should buy a pharmacy, 3%. After the bath, the skin is softened and processed by sawing or pumice. You can do it no more than 2 times in 10 days.

As in the case of sweating feet, numbness is caused by diseases (for heart problems, diabetes) or external factors (sitting work, wearing tight shoes). The solution to the problem in the first case is the treatment of the underlying disease or its careful monitoring. If numbness is a short-term impaired blood circulation, not caused by a disease, then The following procedures will help to cope with it and prevent further occurrence.

• To improve blood circulation allow contrasting baths. This will require 2 pelvis: one - with hot (as far as you can bear) water, the second - with ice. Alternately in each of them you need to immerse the legs for 1 minute.

• Another recipe demonstrates its effectiveness: 1 tablespoon of sea salt, 10 g of camphor alcohol and 50 g of 10% ammonia should be dissolved in a liter of water. The composition is well stirred and immersed in his legs for 10 minutes. During the session should be slightly rubbed feet. To carry out the procedure necessarily at night.
• You can prepare a bath based on dry mustard and sea salt, taken 1 tablespoon, as well as ½ tablespoon of baking soda. The specified number of ingredients is dissolved in 2 liters of hot water and mix thoroughly. The duration of the session is 30-35 minutes.

Most joint diseases are caused by salt deposits. Baths are not a treatment, but act as an additional procedure, carried out in conjunction with the main treatment.

• As a rule, such recipes suggest the presence of iodine in the composition.For example, bath based on chamomile flowers and iodine. 100 g of chamomile need to pour a liter of water, insist and, after filtering, drain into the basin. Add to the same 1 teaspoon of iodine. You can perform the procedure 3 times a week for a month or if you experience pain, swelling.
• You can also prepare a bath of 4 tablespoons of salt, which is dissolved in 2 liters of water. After that, 20 drops of alcohol iodine are added to the composition. The procedure should be carried out at bedtime for half an hour. Then it is recommended to lubricate the problem areas with camphor oil and put on cotton socks.

This bath should be carried out if the body temperature of the patient is not higher than 37.5-38 ° C. It has a slight diaphoretic, and therefore antipyretic effect.

Efficiency can be enhanced by inhalation and drinking herbal teas or warm fruit drinks.

• To prepare the bath should take a tablespoon of salt and dissolve it in a liter of warm water. Add here 2-3 drops of essential oil of needles (fir, spruce, pine). The duration of the procedure is half an hour, while it is recommended to pour hot water into the basin as it cools in the tank. You can make such baths every day during the course of the disease.
• Another easy way to cope with a cold, as well as get rid of cough and nasal congestion is to make a mustard bath for the legs. For this recipe, only dry mustard powder is suitable, which is taken in the amount of 1 tablespoon per 1 liter of water. The duration of the session is from 10 to 30 minutes, during which you should also add water. The important point is that mustard itself warms itself, so the water temperature for such baths may be lower than for other formulations.

All of these recipes are suitable not only for ordinary baths, but also for hot tubs. It is good if in the latter it is possible to create vortex flows of water that enhance the therapeutic effect of these compositions.

• Foot bath should be prepared only from fresh ingredients, which have not expired. Some of them are rarely used, so they don’t even think about their shelf life. For example, open soda packaging can be applied throughout the year.
• When using salt, it should first be dissolved in hot water, and only then added to warm or cold. If salt is added directly to a basin with warm water, it will not be able to completely dissolve, which means that the procedure will bring less benefit than it could.

• Essential oils have a high concentration and strong aroma. In this regard, before adding them to the bath is recommended to conduct a simple test. 1-2 drops of oil should be dripped onto a clean sheet of paper and inhale the aroma, after waiting 5-10 seconds. If after 15-20 minutes after that you do not feel a deterioration, and the smell does not seem annoying or unpleasant to you, you can proceed directly to the procedure.
• Strengthen the action of the foot bath with essential oils can be applied last on the skin. However, due to their high concentration, they should first be mixed with the base oil (olive, peach, grape). On a tablespoon of oil-base is enough 2-3 drops of essential. The resulting mixture should be mixed with a wooden stick, after which it can be applied to the skin.
• Essential oils can be mixed with each other, but only being sure of their compatibility. Chamomile, mint and lavender oils are harmoniously combined, such a mixture relieves fatigue, tones. The main sound will belong to the mint, to the smell of which the subtle fragrance of lavender will join. The aroma of chamomile almost never be felt.

• You can also combine lavender, lemon and rosemary, while the smell will be a little more harsh, invigorating. A harmonious tandem is obtained with a combination of ylang-ylang and orange oil (moisturizes, nourishes), as well as a trio of lavender, sandalwood and tea tree essential oils (from sweating feet).
• If fresh herbs are used, they should be crushed and filled with cold water, let it stand, then put in a water bath. Dry herbs can be immediately poured with hot liquid.
• Can not be used for brewing boiling water. Water temperature should not exceed 95 ° C. If the herbal infusion is supposed to be heated, then it should be done over moderate heat, preventing the liquid from boiling.
• It is not recommended to immerse the legs immediately in hot water (except for contrast baths). It is better to first pour the liquid with a temperature of 38-39 ° C, dip the legs into it and let it get used to the temperature of 5-7 minutes. Then you can add hot water, increasing its temperature to 42-45 ° C. It is necessary to rely only on your own well-being.

• The optimal duration of relaxing and cosmetic procedures - no more than 20 minutes, healing can last up to half an hour. An increase in session time does not affect its benefit; moreover, in this case, the load on the cardiovascular system increases.
• Foot baths are an aid in treating colds in children. However, this method can only be used if the child is older than 5-6 years. At the same time, it is better to reduce the amount of ingredients by half and stop using essential oils. They are quite concentrated, it is better to replace them with a similar herbal decoction.
• Enhance the action of the bath allows you to perform massage. It should be performed directly in the water, after 5 minutes, after you plunged into her legs. Rubbing and massage should start with the fingers, gradually moving higher. Under the influence of hot water, the ligaments become more malleable, and the sensations become dull, therefore it is not recommended to actively rub and stretch fabrics.

The article sounded many recipes that will properly care for their feet. More detailed information for what it should be done can be obtained in the next video.