Can you soak your feet in hot water if you have gout?

Most people soak their feet before going to bed at night. This can relieve their fatigue throughout the day and improve their sleep quality. There are many benefits of foot soaking. It can promote blood circulation, help sleep, and inhibit the occurrence of athlete's foot. However, for patients with gout, foot soaking requires certain methods and techniques.

Gout is caused by the lack of certain enzymes in the body, which leads to excessive uric acid in the blood. When uric acid becomes oversaturated, it is deposited in the bursa, tendons, cartilage and peri-articular tissues of the joints in the form of tiny crystals. A large number of white blood cells gather locally, are destroyed after being phagocytosed, and release internal lysozymes that destroy surrounding tissue cells, causing redness, swelling and pain.

If you soak your feet during an attack of pain, it will not only fail to relieve the pain, but sometimes it will escalate the pain and redness and swelling, making the condition worse. Normally, you should soak your feet 24 hours after the onset of the disease. If there is no pain, soaking your feet is beneficial to your health.

Many people have the habit of hanging their feet to dry directly without wiping them dry after soaking their feet. In fact, this is wrong. When soaking your feet, the water temperature is generally very high, and the sweat pores of the skin open quickly and remain open. If you take your feet out directly at this time, they are easily exposed to the wind, which can easily cause another attack of gout. This is also the reason why many gout patients are prone to relapse after taking a bath. So be sure to dry your feet and put on socks after soaking them, and never let them dry in the cold.

Drying your feet after soaking is also suitable for people who do not suffer from gout. Some people's feet are afraid of wind and cold. Many reasons are related to being blown directly by cold wind after taking a bath or soaking the feet. When cold wind blows, the wind will be trapped under the skin, which can easily form what is called arthritis in traditional Chinese medicine, which is gout, arthritis and other diseases.

From the above introduction, we can know that gout patients must not soak their feet during the attack period, as it will aggravate their condition. However, it does not mean that gout patients cannot soak their feet. As long as gout is not attacking and the body is feeling comfortable, you can soak your feet in hot water. Remember to dry your feet after soaking before going to bed.