Causes of feet swelling
- Pregnancy – it happens because the body of a pregnant woman holds to more water.
- Edema – the condition of puffy feet because of the pooling of water in your feet.
- Injury – it might be a sign of broken bone or sprain. Your feet will look swelling because the blood rush to the area to heal it. One of the injury cases is stated in 13 Helpful Ways How to Treat Swollen Knee from Fall
- Heart failure – it happens because your blood is not flowing well in the right direction.
- Kidney disease – if your kidneys don’t work well, your body will hold on more water then it goes to your feet and make them swell.
Related to foot health, you might also need to read Best Ways to Relieve Leg Cramps fast with home remedy.
Symptoms of feet swelling
How do you know that you are experiencing feet swelling?
- The skin around your feet or ankle is shiny
- The skin shows a dimple after being pressed
- Puffiness of the feet
- nausea and vomiting (serious)
- aching in some body parts
Ways to treat your feet swelling
Going to doctor might be one of the ways of treating feet swelling, but why you should go to doctor if you can simply treat your feet swelling at home. Here are the home remedies to treat your feet swelling.
1. Apple cider vinegar
It is rich in potassium that is very helpful to reduce the fluid retention that causes feet swelling. You can try wrapping your feet using a warm towel soaked in a mixture of apple cider vinegar and water in the same amount.
2. Massage
It helps the muscles to relax and improve the blood circulation. Do a little massage by stroking the feet toward your heart up 2-3 times a day. Use firm pressure instead of hard pressure because it might lead to more severe pain.
3. Boost your magnesium intake
If you are lacking of magnesium, you will be more likely to have feet swelling. It is recommended to have around 200 to 400 magnesium supplement once a day, unless you have kidney or heart disease. You can enrich your magnesium intake by eating nuts, seeds, fish, soybeans, bananas and etc.
4. Exercise
You might be surprised that you need exercise to treat your feet swelling. By exercising, you can move the excess fluid out from your feet and back to your heart. If it is too hard to exercise, you can do simple exercise, such as swimming.
5. The magic of Epsom salt
Ever looking the best and fastest ways to get rid of feet swelling? Epsom salt is rich in magnesium sulfate that works reducing feet swelling and boost your blood circulation. You can mix a cup of Epsom salt and warm water and bath your feet for around 10 to 20 minutes. Epsom salt is the most common home remedy treatment as explained in Best Ways to Get Rid of a Foot Blister with Home Remedies.
6. Foot bath
Dipping your feet into the hot water baths will dilate the blood vessels in your feet while the cold water while the cold water baths will reduce the assembling of fluids in your feet.
7. Elevate your feet
When you are relaxing in the evening, you can elevate your legs using some pillows. Some yoga movements, such as lying on the floor, raising legs and pressing the feet against the walls will also help to reduce the swelling.
8. Compression socks
By putting on compression socks, you can relieve the pain and prevent the fluid collection on your feet.
9. Dandelion
It helps the body to process extra fluids and it makes it becoming the best remedy for treating feet swelling. It also has diuretic effect that prevents water retention in your body parts, especially in your feet.
- Mix one tsp of fresh or dried dandelion leaves with a cup of hot water.
- Steep it for 5 minutes and strain.
- Drink it 2-3 times a day.
10. Ginger oil
It is rich in natural diuretic that helps to treat feet swelling. It will dilute sodium, which plays an important role in causing feet swelling. It also has anti-inflammatory.
- Apply the ginger oil to your swollen feet and massage it gently.
- Or you can drink 2-3 cups of ginger tea a day.
If you are concerning about the use of ginger oil, you may also want to check on How to Relieve the Swollen Gums at Home
Other effective treatments for feet swelling
Besides the treatments above, you can also apply these following treatments as ways to get rid of feet swelling:
- Cucumber – tie a think slice of cucumber on your feet using bandage.
- Mustard oil – massaging your feet using mustard oil as a pain relief on feet swelling.
- Lemon juice – it is known as the best remedy for edema as it absorbs the fluids from your feet
- Rice water – it is helpful to cure the swelling quickly
- Barley water – it reduces the water retention in your body
- Nettle leaves tea – mix 1 tbsp of nettle leaves tea in a cup of water and boil it and drink the tea several times a day
- Sandalwood oil – soak your feet in a water with a few drops of sandalwood oil for 15-20 minutes to comfort your feet swelling
- Coriander seeds – it has anti-inflammatory agent and you can simply boil three tsp of coriander seeds in a cup of water. Drink it twice a day.
- Cabbage leaves – it absorbs the excess fluid from your body. Simply cover your feet swelling with cabbage leaves with a bandage.
- Rose – rose hips does have strong diuretic that is useful to reduce the swelling in your feet
- Parsley – it increases urine and prevent the liquid to be built up.
- Grapefruit essential oil – it has strong anti-inflammatory property that is essential to reduce the swelling. Mix it in a warm bath or just simply rub it to the swollen area.
These natural ingredients are wonderful. Check Natural Ways to Get Rid of Dark Spots on Lips. To know more about natural ingredients and ways, you can also read Homemade Ways to Get Rid of Blackheads on Nose
Prevention of feet swelling
You all know that feet swelling is painful and makes you feel uncomfortable. It is better to do prevention before than experience feet swelling. Here are the ways of preventing feet swelling.
- Eat a lot of potassium-rich food, like banana, raisins, tomato, etc.
- Eat homemade food instead of fast-food
- Maintain ideal body weight
- Maintain the hygiene of your feet
- Avoid eating too salty or spicy food
- Stop smoking
- Avoid too long sitting or standing
- Walking more often to let the blood circulates better
- Use proper shoes or sandals
If you are having other body parts that are swelling, you can check on How to Treat Swollen Knee from Fall