8 Benefits of Soaking Feet in Epsom Salt

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foot bath
Image via InterContinental Hong Kong, Flickr

Have you ever thought of experiencing the benefits of soaking feet in Epsom Salt? Probably you will be surprised to learn that such benefits do exist and they can improve your well-being independently of your current health condition.

This means that you don’t need to be sick or to suffer from a certain illness in order to start bathing your feet in hot water full of Magnesium Sulfate. You can still use this method just as a preventative maintenance, so to speak.

However, it is true that often, we start taking care of our health only after it has just started deteriorating.

The scientifically proven advantages of bathing in Epsom Salt and the positive effects that it has on the body and mind are largely discussed. In this article, however, we are going to focus specifically on the amazing perks that bathing feet in Magnesium Sulfate brings.

I’m sure that it would be an interesting and useful information no matter if your feet are in good or bad condition.

Without a further ado, let’s check them out.

It Reduces Pain

As already discussed in a previous article, the Magnesium Sulfate is excellent in significantly decreasing the pain levels, thanks to its powerful effects on the nerve system. In that way, treating your feet with Epsom Salt can help in healing traumas, injuries, and cramps caused by overwork or excessive walking, for instance. Such illnesses include metatarsalgia and Morton’s neuroma.

Many people who like to do long mountain trekking use this method for effectively relieving the pain in the forefoot, the midfoot, and the hindfoot.

It Mitigates Swollen Feet and Ankles

Also known as edema, this condition is often characterized by an unpleasant and painful sensation in the feet. It is often caused by a prolonged walking or standing. It can also occur during pregnancy or following an injury.

epsom salt heals swollen feet
The appropriate use of Epsom Salt can immensely help for healing swollen feet.

The compounds in the Magnesium Sulfate combined with hot water are known to successfully lessen the symptoms of swellness of the feet.

It Battles Plantar Fasciitis

Do you know what Plantar Fasciitis is? If you don’t, you should be thankful because chances are that you are not suffering from it.

plantar fasciitis
Image via Daniel Max, Flickr.

Basically, it is a very irksome and painful disease of the feet. More specifically, it is an inflammation of the thin tissue which is found between the heel and the toes. When it becomes too stretched, small specks appear on the surface and that provokes annoying and persistent pain.

This illness could have various causes. Some of them are flat feet, wearing uncomfortable shoes (often with high-heels), long standing, overweight, etc.

Soaking your feet in Magnesium Sulfate aids in healing the inflamed tissues and relieves the pain in the muscles and in the tendons. Again, the main element that fights this soreness is the magnesium.

It Helps in Healing Osteoarthritis of the Feet

Osteoarthritis is arguably the nastiest form of one of the most common diseases for us, humans – the arthritis. For those of you that don’t know, the arthritis is joint inflammation in Layman’s terms. This inflammation produces pain and stiffness.

The osteoarthritis itself affects the cartilage tissues of the feet and it is often caused by the age. Because this tissue deteriorates with the time, the bones start to rub against each other which causes pain and deformation often resulting in difficulties of motion.

A lot of natural remedies are used to treat arthritis and osteoarthritis such as ginger, mustard oil, apple vinegar, and many others. Can you guess another effective cure that can relieve the symptoms? That’s right – the Epsom Salt.

The continuous and regular soaking of feet in Magnesium Sulfate regulates the Ph levels of the body. This is crucial for the inflammatory processes in our organism because the high acidity usually stimulates inflammations.

That is why the Epsom Salt is known as an efficacious weapon against osteoarthritis and all form of arthritis.

It Eases the Symptoms of Heel Spurs

Projectional radiography of calcaneal spurAs you are probably in aware, the heel spurs are characterized by the excessive bone growth in the heels. This is usually caused by joint or tendon injuries and the reaction of the human body is to produce bone in order to treat the injury. All that results in the apparition of bone spurs. When these spurs touch other bones of press nerves, this provokes severe pain and inflammation.

When it comes to the root cause of the heel spurs, there could be many. The most commons ones are arthritis, inborn bone diseases, spinal problems, increased age, etc.

One of the effective methods that helps in relieving the pain is the minerals in the Magnesium Sulfate. The continuous and regular bathing of the feet lessen the inflammation and stimulate the acidity decrease.

It Helps in Removing Splinters

Having a splinter in the hand or in the feet is not only painful and annoying but dangerous. It can cause serious infections that can spread to the whole body.

A painless way to remove a splinter is to treat it with Epsom Salt-rich water. How that helps you will ask? It’s simple. The salt extracts the water from the skin and from the cells which easily brings even the deepest splinters on the surface. Isn’t that wonderful?

It removes Calluses

Image via cushyspa.com

In simple terms, the callus is a hard skin formation due to excessive friction. Most commonly it can appear on the hands and on the feet but generally, whenever and wherever there might be any prolonged friction the risk of calluses exists.

A largely known cause for that ugly formation on the feet is wearing uncomfortable shoes or unusual step. A largely known natural cure is the Magnesium Sulfate. Because the compounds in the Epsom Salt have an exfoliating effect on the skin, they remove the dead cells, thus leaving only the natural skin tissue.

Are you ready to feel like a newborn again? Then don’t hesitate to try soaking your feet in water full of Epsom Salt the next time you have calluses or corns.

It Heals Athlete’s Foot

Not being an athlete or not even thinking of doing any kind of sport doesn’t protect you from getting an athlete’s foot. No, it’s not that straightforward.

The Fungus under a microscope
The Fungus under a microscope

This feet infection caused by fungus (a special type of microorganisms that develop in warm, closed or moist environments) diffusion usually affects the intra-foot surface and it can hit everyone indifferently of the age and gender.

Probably many of you know that this skin infection is very unpleasant. This is mostly because of the putrid smell but also because of the annoying itchiness.

Treating your feet in warm water full of dissolved Magnesium Sulfate can be very effective. It can not only control the infection but to successfully decrease it. The elements in the Epsom Salt significantly reduce the itching and the redness of the skin and toes by eliminating the contamination. However, do know that it takes time and persistence.


As you have probably learned until now, the Epsom Salt is a great natural remedy that can easily be used in order to help in healing most of the feet infections. This is also just another good reason to start floating in a sensory deprivation tank where the water is rich in Magnesium Sulfate.

With that being said, the above-mentioned methods are not a medical advice. They are just a recommendation based on extensive research. Always consult a doctor about your specific condition and take care of your health. If you don’t no one will.

Have you ever suffered from foot infection? How do you deal with it? Please leave a comment below!

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4 thoughts on “8 Benefits of Soaking Feet in Epsom Salt”

  1. What a great read. This reminds me of when I used to play sports in high school my body would always be achy and my mom would tell me to take a bath in Epsom Salt and it always helped out. I see that there are some with different ingredients in addition to the Epsom Salt, would you recommend those?

    • Hi Tony,

      Thank you for reading. The Epsom Salt is very appropriate to use when you endure heavy physical trainings. That is why many athletes take Epsom Salt baths.
      Your mom seems to have known this back when you was in high school 🙂
      Regarding your question, you should always read carefully the ingredients that every product has befre using it. There are some salts with added ingredients and most of them are convinient to use unless you have a special condition or your doctor states otherwise.

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