Feet Therapy

Cryotherapy (Ice Packs)

Because heat increases skin surface temperature and can encourage blood to pool and swelling to increase, you'll want to apply ice to any injury or surgical wound for the first two or three days. Ice reduces swelling and prevents blood from pooling in the injured area.

You can freeze water in five-ounce cups. Place that or an ice cube in aplastic bag and cover with dry towel. Rub the covered ice in a circular motion on the injury for five to ten minutes per hour. Ice as frequently as you can in the first few days after an injury. Do not use ice on afresh wound. Icing can be especially effective when it's alternated with gentle stretching exercises. Never strap or tape the ice to your body.To do so can cause serious skin damage similiar to frostbite.


Whirlpools

Whether you have a painful, disabling condition like arthritis or you've injured yourself and have been icing the injury for several days, whirlpools are a great way to gently massage and soothe sore joints or muscles to speed healing.

Latting your feet rest passively in a pool of warm water, though, can make it swell as the blood begins to pool around the heated area. You should exercise your foot to prevent swelling. You needn't do them quickly or vigorously; just keep your feet keep moving.

Hot Compresses

You can apply hot compress (a hot water bottle wrappedin a towel or a heating pad are safest and most effective) for ten to thirty minutes or two or three times a day to soothe aching joints and to heal injured muscles. Be careful, though. If you have problems with circulation or sensations in your feet that have made it more difficult for you to feel heat or cold, don't apply heat yourself because you'll have no way of knowing whether you're burning yourself.

And never, never fall asleep with a heating pad, The pad maybe at a comfy temperatre for a thirty minutes treatment, but the heat can build up over a long period and increase the chances of burning yourself.

If you're going to apply heat to your foot while you're in bed, do it with hot water bottle which has te advantage of coling off as your feet heat up.



Contrast Baths

Alternating hot and cold soaks is a great way to stimulate circulation. First soak your feet in warm water for four minutes; then soak them in cool water for one minute. repeat four times, ending with the cold water. This process exercises your blood vessels. making them alternately contract and relax, and increases your blood flow. If you have a circulation problem,this is gret therapy to work into you daily routine.



Paraffin Baths

Another methods of applyingheat your doctor might prescribe is aparaffin bath. It's not not a safe method to try at home and should be done by a professional. It's used to treat arthritis of the hands and feet and consists of applying a paraffin and mineral oil mixture to the foot. Enough mineral oil is added to the paraffin so that it reaches a melting point of 126 degrees, the temperature at which it is applied to your skin.

Paraffin baths should be avoided if you have a severe circulatory problem affecting your foot.



Ultrviolet Lights

Ultraviolet light can be used to kill bacteria and fungus when you have a severe infection. It can also be used to stimulate tissue repair, especially in infections like chronic ulcers. It is sometimes used to treat psoriaris.




Massage

Massage is a great for stimulating circulation and helping old injuries heal. you can massage your own feet if you can reach them or you can have your friend massage them for you. Massage should be gentle, especially if your skin is dry and sensitive. Use a soothing lotion.




Counterirritations

Counterirritation is based on the principle that if you introduce a new pain or another intense sensation, it will block out the old pain. Heat-producing oinments work on this principle. They increase the blood supply to the skin by irritating it. The increased blood supply usually dulls the snsation of pain. Ointments, massage and ultraviolet rays can be used as counterirritants. Suction cups are used, moremonthly in Europe than in this country, as are acupuncture and electrical stimulation.



Electrical Stimulation

When you can't contract or exercise a muscle voluntarily, electric currents can be used to exercise it even when it's too sore to touch or massage. The sensation is odd. You aren't moving the muscle and you don't feel anything stimulating it, but it's contracting and twitching beyond your control. Electrical stimulation can be used to exercise muscles that can't be moved. It can relieve pain and stimulate circulation, even for an immobilized part such as a leg in a cast.

Most of these physical therapy techniques should be performed by your podiatrist or by a licensed physical therapist. You can always massage your own feet at home, and it's usually safe to properly soak or ice a traumatized feet. Exercise is still the most effective home therapy if you able to do it. Walking does all tehe things the other therapies described are designed to do. As your muscles contract and relax, they massage the inside of your foot, stimulate circulationand produce heat, often relieving pain, at least temporarily. The most important function of exercise is probably to stimulate circulation. Nothing is as important to healing as adequate blood flow.