Relieve Foot Pain With These Natural Home Remedies

You spend up to 80 percent of your waking hours on your feet, and each day your feet absorb over 2,265,000 kilograms of accumulated pressure. So it’s no wonder that, from time to time, your feet end up in a world of hurt. Virtually anything can cause foot pain, including shoes that don’t fit, diseases like arthritis and diabetes, and poor circulation. Here’s what you can do for sore feet.

1. Boost Circulation

For a refreshing and stimulating treat for the feet, fill one basin with cold water and another with water as hot as you can comfortably stand. Sit in a comfortable chair, and place your feet in the cold water. After 5 minutes, switch to the hot water. Repeat. This “hydromassage” alternately dilates and constricts blood vessels in your feet, boosting circulation.

2. Rub Out the Pain

In health-food stores, you can buy a roller specially designed to massage the soles of the feet. Or you can simply roll your bare foot over a tennis ball, golf ball, or rolling pin for several minutes. You can also massage them by hand with one of the following two homemade oils:

• 3 drops clove oil and 3 tablespoons (45 mL) sesame oil
• 3 drops lavender oil, 1 drop chamomile oil and 1 drop geranium oil mixed in 2 teaspoons (10 mL) olive oil

3. Rid the Ache

Scatter a few pencils on the floor, and pick them up with your toes. This little exercise helps relieve foot ache.

4. Stretch the Toes

Wrap a thick rubber band around all the toes on one foot. Spread your toes and hold the stretch for five seconds. Repeat 10 times to relieve shoe-bound feet.

5. Tend to the Tissue

Heel pain, especially in the morning, may signal plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of the tough band of tissue that connects your heel bone to the base of your toes. To get relief, stretch the Achilles tendon. Stand about one metre from a wall. Place your hands on the wall, and move your right leg forward, knee bent. Keep your left leg straight, with your heel on the floor. You should feel a gentle stretch in your heel and foot arch. Hold for 10 seconds, then switch sides and repeat.

6. Heal the Heel

Apply an ice pack to the sore heel for about 20 minutes three times a day.

7. Make a foot bath

Pamper your feet in an at-home spa bath. Fill a foot bath with hot water, add any of the following, and soak for 10 minutes.

• 2 drops peppermint oil, 4 drops of eucalyptus, 4 drops of rosemary oil
• a strong cup of peppermint tea
• 1 tablespoon (15 mL)arnica tincture

Next: 7 Foot Peel Masks, Available in Canada, for Softer Feet