Home Remedies for Heel Pain
Pain in the heel in one of the most difficult types of foot pain to treat. Many conventional treatments only work imperfectly or temporarily. Here are a couple of heel pain relief techniques that have given me relief in the past - perhaps they’ll help you, too.
1. Contrast foot baths.
This treatment often provides fast relief for any type of foot or heel pain, and it’s virtually free. All you need is two containers - one with hot and one with cold water. Here’s what you do:
- Soak your foot for 5 minutes in cold water.
- Now put your foot into a container of hot water. The temperature of the water should not be cool, lukewarm, or warm - it.should be as hot as you can stand.
- Soak the foot in the hot water for 5 minutes.
- Now move your foot back into the container of cold water.
Repeat the procedure until the pain is gone. This process is often called “water massage,” since it has a similar effect as massage by opening and closing blood vessels.
2. Put some heat on your feet!
Ointments such as Zostrix Cream are enriched with capsaicin, a natural ingredient in hot peppers that also has analgesic properties. Capsaicin cream can therefore be very helpful in relieving foot pain. (If you also suffer from burning feet because of neuropathy, this type of capsaicin cream can sometimes be helpful in cooling the pain.)
Just be forewarned - when you first apply the ointment, you will feel a burning sensation for a short time. But the more you use capsaicin cream, the less “burn” you will feel. And since capsaicin cream is a topical medicine, you tend to avoid the side effects from oral pain medications.
Just be sure to talk with your doctor before you begin, since capsaicin cream therapy is not right for everyone.
You can get many more tips like this from the foot pain book featured on this site. It’s called Banish Foot Pain Once and For All, and I highly recommend it.
