Soothing Tired Feet Eight hours, twelve hours, and sometimes sixteen hours on your feet. You really have to admit that nurses are super heroes. Your mind and body has to be operating with 100% efficiency the entire time you are working, since lives depend on you. So at the end of the day, you deserve some rest and relaxation. And the body part that took you from room to room all day, your feet, need some pampering for sure.
Tips for Soothing Feet
Frozen water bottles are great massage tools for tired aching feet. Especially in warm weather, cold bottles feel great and help reduce inflammation. Just put one frozen water bottle under each foot and roll back and forth. It's like getting a massage and cooling treatment all at once. Soaking Feet in Epsom salt helps relax them. Warm water with ½ cup epsom salt per gallon works great to ease soreness of overworked Feet. Peppermint lotion is a great refresher, but you don't have to buy a special lotion. Use any Rich lotion, and add a couple drops of peppermint oil. Mix and rub on feet, or better yet, let someone else do the rubbing for you. When washing, soaking feet or washing in the shower/tub, don't stop at just soaping up. After washing feet, cover them with hair conditioner and rub in well, then rinse. The conditioner helps moisturize and leaves feet feeling soft.
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Reflexology Foot Exercises By stimulating reflex points on your feet, hands, face and ears, reflexology impacts the whole body, affecting the organs as well as the glands. A simple reflexology routine that works on just the feet can help you to drift off to sleep naturally. There are nearly 15,000 nerves in your feet alone, one of many reasons that foot reflexology is so calming, soothing and effective. Reflexologists map out the feet where all the organs, glands, and corresponding parts of the body are laid out. The toes reflect the head. The ridge beneath the toes on the top part of the ball of the foot is a natural shoulder or neckline. The ball of the foot reflects the chest, and the heel and ankles contain reflexes for the reproductive system. The inside curve of each foot (where we find the spinal reflex) corresponds to the actual curves of the spine.
Foot Reflexology Exercises 1. Relax the feet, one at a time, with simple relaxation techniques: pressing and squeezing, lightly slapping or gently kneading — whatever feels good. Finish by pressing and holding your thumb on the solar plexus point of each foot for 5-10 seconds each. 2. On the bottom of each foot, “walk” your thumb up from the base of the heel to each toe (imagine your thumb is a caterpillar inching its way up your foot), then press these reflex points with the outer edge of your thumb or tip of your forefinger: • • • • • • •
Head/brain (top of each toe) promotes clarity and positive thinking. Pituitary or “master gland” (center of big toe) stimulates/balances hormone secretions of all other glands. Pineal gland (outer side of big toe) secretes melatonin which controls our circadian rhythm/sleep cycle. Thyroid (base of big toe) balances metabolism. Neck/shoulders (ridge of toes) releases tension Chest/lungs (ball of foot) calms breathing. Solar plexus/diaphragm (under ball of foot in the center) encourages profound relaxation and peacefulness.
If you have other particular areas of your body that are stressed, you can press the corresponding reflex area or point. 3. Apply the relaxation techniques again, and finish with another thumb press on the solar plexus point on both feet. 4. End with “breeze strokes” — lightly running your fingertips down the tops, bottoms and sides of each foot in a feathering motion, barely touching the skin. Repeat this several times. It is very soothing to the nerves. Related:
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Keeping Feet in Great Shape Heels can become dry, but there are ways to keep feet looking sandal ready all year long. Use a product such as Amope to remove dead skin. Follow by putting a layer of Vaseline on feet, concentrating on the heels. Over that, top with lotions, and put on cotton socks. Feet will feel soft and smooth in a few hours, or leave the socks on to sleep in for even deeper moisturizing effects. For an extra soothing spa like treatment, after covering feet in moisturizer, use plastic grocery bags or similar, then wrap warm towels or socks, fresh from the dryer around them. If you have, worked one of those monster shifts, or just ran like crazy all
day, taking ibuprofen to reduce pain and swelling may be a good solution, followed by getting some rest and elevating feet. For any injury or pain in the foot, always see a podiatrist, foot problems can put a stop to your work if left untreated. Always wear appropriate shoes, comfort and support should take priority. When working a 12 hour shift, consider taking a second pair of shoes to change into half way through your shift, it can feel refreshing to the soles of feet to have variations in shoes. Always keep in mind; you only have two feet, so take extra special care of them so they can get you where you need to go. Related:
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