FOOT BATH.
Any vessel sufficiently large to receive the feet, and enough water to cover them to the ankles, is suitable for this bath. The feet should be rubbed during the bath. If the temperature is cool, only an inch or two of water should be employed.
The walking foot bath is an excellent remedy for cold feet. It consists in walking in shallow water five or ten minutes.
The alternate hot and cold foot bath is another valuable remedy for cold feet, and is a certain remedy for chilblains. It is given thus: Place the feet in hot water—100° to 110°—three or four minutes. Then withdraw them and plunge them quickly into a bath of cold water—60° or less. After two or three minutes, restore them to the hot bath. Thus alternate three or four times, and conclude by dipping the feet quickly into cold water and wiping dry. This bath produces most powerful reaction.
The foot bath is applicable in the treatment of headache, neuralgia, toothache, catarrh, congestion of abdominal and pelvic organs, colds, and cold feet. It is very useful as a preparatory for other baths, and as an accompaniment of other local applications.