A man surnamed Wang in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province, is a foot soaking enthusiasts, usually very much like to use hot water to soak their feet, after all, soaking their feet has been well recognized by the health of the road. But this is such a common thing, but Mr. Wang into a dangerous situation.

At first, Mr. Wang just because the water is too hot and scalded, originally thought that the bandage will be fine, but did not know that next day his feet began to turn red, and a week later even black , was told that it must be amputation to save his life.

Mr. Wang's attending physician said that this would cause such a situation, mainly because Mr. Wang is a diabetic.

Seeing this, a lot of people might wonder: Isn't footbath good for the body? Why is it so potentially dangerous for diabetics to soak their feet? The first thing you need to do is to make sure that you have a good understanding of what you are doing and what you are doing. What groups of people are not suitable for daily foot soaking? With these doubts, let's take a look at those things about health care foot soaking!

The reason why foot soaking is now widely recognized by the public, is labeled as a health maintenance, it is because since ancient times, the habit of foot soaking has been passed down from generation to generation.

Foot soaking is a kind of foot bath, as early as in the Jin Dynasty, "after the elbow to prepare for the emergency prescription" has been recorded, so far there have been more than a thousand years of history. The root of the foot soak on the human body in fact what effect it inherited to date? Here, let me answer for you.

Although the foot is the furthest part from the heart, it is indeed one of the key parts of human health, foot is also known as the second heart of the human body . Generally speaking, our human feet are at the farthest end of the heart, so the blood circulation of the feet should be in the body is relatively poor, and foot bath can effectively accelerate the blood circulation of the feet.

We all know the principle of heat expansion and cold contraction, and the same is true for our blood vessels. When we immerse our feet in hot water, our blood vessels slowly expand under the effect of temperature, and as they do, blood flow speeds up.

This is why foot soaking is widely recognized as relieving fatigue. In the course of the day's activities, the feet are in the lowest position in the body, blood circulates from the heart to the feet, but the power of pumping from the feet back to the heart is poor, by soaking the feet can prompt the blood to return to the heart, improve the local blood stasis, and likewise improve the state of lower limb edema. So, foot soaking can really play a role in relieving stress.

The reason why the foot is called the second heart is also due to its distribution of a large number of acupuncture points. Almost every part of our body can find a corresponding reflex zone on the feet.

We may have had such an experience, in the foot massage, the masseur presses the points on the soles of our feet, will feel pain, soreness , the masseur will tell us that this is because of the corresponding reflex zones of the internal organs have problems. The same is true for foot baths. Under the action of high temperature will continue to stimulate the foot acupuncture points, reflex zones and meridians, and therefore play a tuning the lungs, tranquility role.

The benefits of foot soaking go far beyond that. Adding different herbs to the foot bath water will also make the foot bath more effective and even assist in some treatments. Here you can choose herbs according to their own needs. For example, if the middle-aged and elderly people with back and leg pain, then you can add the right amount of danshen, astragalus, angelica in the foot bath water, and if it is indigestion, liver stagnation, you can add the right amount of angelica, Chen Pi, Qing Pi.

From this, we can see that foot baths have a soothing and relaxing effect on our bodies, stimulating the meridians, to a certain extent, can achieve the effect of health. For most of us, foot soaking is really a very good habit that deserves to be continued.

However, there are some people who are not suitable for foot baths. If not handled properly, foot baths can become a habit of "injury"!

Above we said that the foot bath does have the effect of health, then why Mr. Wang, a diabetic patient in the foot bath will cause such a serious negative consequences? In fact, the foot bubble seems simple, but there are some contraindications, not all people are suitable for foot bubble, the following three types of people, the effect of foot bubble may be more harmful than good.

First of all, foot or lower extremity skin breakthroughs should be avoided to soak feet, such as tinea pedis and other skin disease patients and patients with frostbite.

In the case of foot moss, because you can't scratch the itch, many people will soak their feet in hot water to relieve the itch, and mistakenly believe that this can alleviate the symptoms of tinea pedis, which is a practice that is completely on fire for the treatment of tinea pedis. This is because hot water can lead to secondary bacterial infections, which can be exacerbated if the skin is broken.

The same is true for frostbite patients, many people in the winter will be through the foot soak to make the feet warm, but in the foot temperature is too low is not suitable for foot soak. This is because when you have frozen feet, the muscles of the feet are in a state of rigidity and tightness, and if you get into a hot water bath right away, it will be because of the huge difference in temperature that exacerbates the pain of frostbite, and it will cause damage to the blood vessels in the feet.

People with varicose veins are also not suitable for foot soaking. Varicose veins are caused by poor blood return in the veins and are most commonly found in the lower extremities. As we said above, due to thermal expansion and contraction, foot soaking can expand the blood vessels in the feet and speed up blood circulation.

But this is not the case for patients with varicose veins in the lower limbs. Foot baths not only do not help pump blood back to the heart, but also cause increased blood volume in the lower limbs through the dilation of the venous blood vessels, and less return of the blood, which increases the swelling of the feet.

Patients with cardiovascular disease is also one of the groups of people to avoid foot baths, this is because patients with cardiovascular disease foot baths are prone to hypoxic syncope. There are cardiovascular disease patients, in the process of foot soaking, blood vessels are easy to heat expansion, accelerated blood flow, short-term increase in the burden on the heart, blood vessels, serious cases will even be because of the heart of temporary ischemia and fainting .

Instead, it will trigger skin burns when the temperature is too high. In fact, human skin has a tolerance level, according to current research, the threshold temperature for causing skin burns is 45. If the temperature is higher than 70 and above, it can cause epidermal necrosis in 1 second.

So in the process of foot soaking, control the temperature at 42 -45 for the most appropriate temperature. It is also possible to control the water temperature in the process of soaking feet to a degree close to the body temperature, to be soaked into the water feet to adapt to two or three minutes, and then slowly add hot water, the body can feel hotter.

2, soak your feet for too long

Soak your feet in the process, many people will do something else to kill time. For example, watching a little TV, brushing a little cell phone, although it does drive away the boredom, but it will make us unintentionally drag the time of foot soaking.

But a long time soaking feet is not conducive to good health, foot soaking time if too long, more than half an hour, may lead to the body's blood flow to the lower extremities, easy to heart, the brain's blood supply is insufficient , for their own ability to regulate the lack of older people, it may lead to coronary heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases.

Generally speaking, footbath time is best not more than 30 minutes , every day before bedtime footbath will be better. Olderly people should be relatively short, the best control within 20 minutes.

3, foot baths are not fixed

Some people do not have their own fixed foot bath, may be a family mixed with the same foot bath, which is not recommended. For people with skin diseases, this can easily cause other family members to get infected.

Therefore, in order to prevent skin diseases from spreading, it is best to use your own fixed foot bath. In terms of material selection, it's best to use a wooden footbath. Wooden footbaths are deeper and better insulated.

For most of us, foot baths are an important health care regimen, through which we can regulate the body and relieve fatigue. However, foot soaking is not suitable for everyone, for varicose veins, cardiovascular patients and some skin disease patients, foot soaking does more harm than good, we have to judge for themselves according to their own physical condition. At the same time, through the scientific method, better play the efficacy of foot soaking.

References:

1 Observation on the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine footbath with acupressure in treating patients with palpitation and insomnia[J]. Wang Hui. Clinical Research on Traditional Chinese Medicine. 2013(08)

2 Clinical observation and nursing care of traditional Chinese medicine footbath in the treatment of exogenous fever[J]. Lai Weilan, Yan Ruyi, Huang Qiuping, Zhao Huanjia. Clinical Medical Engineering. 2011(04)