At first, Mr. Wang was burned only because the water was too hot. He thought it would be all right if he bandaged it, but his feet turned red the next day and even turned black a week later. He was told that he had to amputate his leg to save his life.
Mr. Wang's attending doctor said that this situation is mainly because Mr. Wang is a diabetic.
Seeing this, many people may have such doubts: isn't soaking feet good for your health? Why is it so dangerous for diabetic patients to soak their feet? Soaking feet with hot water every day is "healthy" or "harmful"? Who is not suitable for soaking feet every day? With these doubts, let's take a look at those things that soak our feet in health!
The reason why soaking feet is widely recognized by the public and labeled as health preservation is precisely because the habit of soaking feet has been passed down from generation to generation.
Soaking feet is a kind of foot bath, which was recorded as early as the Jin Dynasty's "Elbow Emergency Prescription" and has a history of more than 1000 years. Investigate its root cause, what effect does soaking feet have on the human body to make it spread to this day? Next, let me answer for you.
Although the foot is the farthest part from the heart, it is indeed one of the key parts that affect human health. The foot is also called the second heart of the human body. Generally speaking, our feet are the farthest end from the heart, so the blood circulation of our feet in the body should be poor. Soaking our feet can effectively accelerate the blood circulation of our feet.
Everyone knows the principle that heat expands and contracts, and so do our blood vessels. When we soak our feet with hot water, the blood vessels will slowly expand under the action of temperature, and with the expansion of blood vessels, the blood flow speed will accelerate.
This is why soaking feet is widely believed to relieve fatigue. During the day's activities, the feet are in the lowest position of the human body, and blood circulates from the heart to the feet, but the strength of pumping back to the heart from the feet is poor. Soaking feet can promote blood return to the heart, improve local blood stasis, and also improve edema of lower limbs. So soaking feet can really relieve stress.
The foot is called the second heart because it has a large number of acupoints. Almost every part of our body can find the corresponding reflex zone on our feet.
Everyone may have had this experience. When doing pedicure, the masseur will feel pain and soreness when pressing the acupoints on our soles. The masseur will tell us that this is because there is something wrong with the internal organs in the corresponding reflex zone. The same is true for soaking feet. Under the action of high temperature, it will constantly stimulate the acupoints, reflex zones and meridians of the foot, thus playing the role of regulating the lungs and calming the nerves.
The benefits of soaking feet go far beyond these. Adding different medicinal materials to foot bath water will make the effect of foot bath better and even play an auxiliary role in some treatments. Here you can choose medicinal materials according to your own needs. For example, middle-aged and elderly people can add appropriate amount of Salvia Miltiorrhiza, Astragalus membranaceus and Angelica sinensis in foot bath water if they have lumbago and leg pain, and appropriate amount of Angelica sinensis, Pericarpium Citri Tangerinae and Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae Viride can be added if they have indigestion and stagnation of liver qi.
It can be seen that soaking feet has a relaxing and stimulating effect on our human body, and can achieve the effect of health preservation to a certain extent. For most of us, soaking our feet is really a very good habit, which is worth sticking to.
However, there are indeed some people who are not suitable for soaking their feet. If not handled properly, soaking feet will become a habit of "hurting the body"!
As we mentioned above, soaking feet does have the effect of health preservation, so why does Mr. Wang, a diabetic, have such serious negative consequences after soaking feet? In fact, soaking feet seems simple, but it is also a taboo. Not everyone is suitable for soaking feet. For the following three types of people, the effect of soaking feet may do more harm than good.
First of all, people with damaged skin of feet or lower limbs should avoid soaking their feet, such as patients with dermatoses such as tinea pedis and frostbite.
As far as tinea pedis is concerned, many people will soak their feet in hot water to stop itching because they can't scratch, mistakenly thinking that this can alleviate the symptoms of tinea pedis. This practice is completely adding fuel to the fire for the treatment of tinea pedis. Because soaking feet with hot water may lead to secondary bacterial infection, and if the skin is broken, it will aggravate the degree of infection.
The same is true for patients with chilblain. Many people soak their feet in winter to warm their feet, but the temperature is too low to soak their feet. This is because when the foot is frozen, the muscles of the foot are in a stiff and tight state. If you soak your feet with hot water immediately, the pain of frostbite will be aggravated by the huge temperature difference, and the blood vessels in your feet will also be damaged.
People with varicose veins are not suitable for soaking feet. Varicose veins are caused by poor venous blood return, which is most common in lower limbs. As we said above, soaking feet can expand the blood vessels of feet and speed up blood circulation because of heat expansion and cold contraction.
But this is not the case for patients with varicose veins of lower limbs. Soaking feet can not only help blood pump back to the heart, but also increase the blood volume of lower limbs through the expansion of venous blood vessels. Less blood reflux will aggravate the swelling of feet.
Patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are also one of the people who should avoid soaking feet, because soaking feet in cardiovascular diseases is easy to cause hypoxia syncope. In the process of soaking feet, the blood vessels of patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are easily expanded by heat, which accelerates the blood flow and increases the burden on the heart and blood vessels in a short time. Severe cases may even faint due to temporary ischemia and hypoxia of the heart.
Although soaking feet is recognized as a method to relieve fatigue in daily life, some patients are not suitable for soaking feet. For patients with dermatoses such as beriberi and chilblain, patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and patients with varicose veins, soaking feet will not only fail to achieve the effect of health preservation, but will aggravate the condition, which is not worth the candle.
Although many people in life have the habit of soaking feet and know the benefits of soaking feet, they may not pay too much attention to the details of soaking feet. In fact, most people have many misunderstandings about soaking feet. If you want to soak your feet correctly and play the role of soaking your feet, you should avoid the following misunderstandings.
1, foot bath water temperature is too high.
Many people are used to soaking their feet in very hot water. Although I can feel the heat, I still insist on soaking my feet with hot water to let my skin adapt to the temperature slowly. This is completely wrong and has no special effect.
Excessive temperature can cause skin burns. In fact, human skin is tolerant. According to the current research, the threshold temperature of skin scald is 45℃. Above 45 degrees can cause low-temperature burns. If the temperature is higher than 70 and above, 1 s can cause epidermal necrosis.
Therefore, in the process of soaking feet, the most suitable temperature is controlled at 42-45. You can also control the water temperature close to the body temperature during foot soaking. After soaking your feet in water for two or three minutes, slowly add hot water to make your body feel hot.
2, soaking feet for too long
In the process of soaking feet, many people will do something else to kill time. For example, watching TV for a while and brushing the mobile phone for a while, although it does drive away boredom, will make us inadvertently extend the time of soaking our feet.
But soaking feet for a long time is bad for people's health. If the foot bath time is too long, more than half an hour, it may lead to more blood flowing to the lower limbs, which is prone to insufficient blood supply to the heart and brain. For the elderly with insufficient self-regulation ability, it is more likely to cause cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease.
Generally speaking, it is best not to soak your feet for more than 30 minutes. It would be better if you soak your feet before going to bed every day. The time for the elderly to soak their feet is relatively short, and it is best to control it within 20 minutes.
3. Foot bath tools are not fixed
Some people don't have their own fixed foot bath when they soak their feet. Maybe you will mix and match the same foot bath at home, but it is not recommended. For people with skin diseases, it is easy to cause infection from other family members.
Therefore, in order to prevent the infection of skin diseases, it is best to use your own fixed foot bath. In the selection of materials, it is best to choose wooden footbath. The wooden footbath is deeper and has better insulation effect.
For most of us, soaking feet is an important way to keep fit. Soaking feet can regulate the body and relieve fatigue. However, soaking feet is not suitable for everyone. For patients with varicose veins, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and some skin diseases, soaking feet does more harm than good. Everyone should judge for himself according to his own physical condition. At the same time, we should use scientific methods to better play the role of soaking feet.
References:
1 Chinese herbal foot bath combined with acupoint massage for palpitation and insomnia patients [J]. Wang Hui. Clinical research of traditional Chinese medicine. 20 13 (08).
Clinical observation and nursing care of exogenous fever treated by foot bath with traditional Chinese medicine [J]. Lai, Yan Ruyi, Zhao. Clinical medical engineering.2011(04)