Prescription medications for arthritis are not always needed to effectively treat your condition. Here you can find the best home remedies for arthritis of the feet.
Stretch Your Feet
By stretching your feet, you can significantly increase flexibility and blood flow in your feet which is extremely important for fighting arthritis. Stretching is also one of the most effective and simple ways to cure arthritis or at least mitigate its effects. If your feet are particularly tender you can start by simply wiggling your toes for a few minutes. From there you can start to stretch your Achilles tendon by standing in a lunge stance and leaning forward while keeping tension in your calf. You can also prop your leg up on your thigh and proceed to roll your ankle as much as you can.
Get A Foot Massage
Massaging your feet can be a great way to relieve the effects of arthritis. You can do it your self or with a partner and can even use essential oils to potentially experience more relief. Massaging can increase circulation and blood flow in places where your feet need it the most and in turn can mitigate the effects of arthritis. You can also roll your foot on a lacrosse ball to change things up.
Herbal Rub
There are numerous herbal remedies that you can use to reduce inflammation, increase circulation and mitigate pain. Arnica, devils claw, turmeric, and garlic are among the most effective herbal remedies for treating arthritis. You can either mash these herbs up and then rub them on the skin or you can also buy ointment containing these ingredients that you can use to treat arthritis.
Ice Packs
Ice packs are a great way to numb any areas of pain from arthritis. Simply wrap a towel around an ice pack or a plastic bag of ice and hold it on the area of irritation. You can press the bag on the foot for 15 minutes or so at a time but be sure to give your skin some rest in between.
Baths
Who doesn’t love a nice bath? Baths are great because they distress and relax the body which can loosen up tense joints affected by arthritis. You can enhance the experience by also using Epsom salts. Epsom salts, when mixed in baths, have the ability to detoxify your skin of impurities and relieve tension in joints caused by arthritis. If you don’t feel like taking a full bath you can use a foot bath for your feet.
Exercise
A straightforward way to relieve your body of the pains of arthritis is through exercise. If it is too painful to do so, don’t attempt to go out and run a marathon. Take it slow at first. You can start by slowing flexing and contracting your feet, curling your toes and lightly jogging in place. From there you may feel as though you might be up for a light run next time or yoga.
You can also check out this post on back pain relief here.