In what is perhaps the least-glamorous item to ever grace the pages of LiveWellSpendWell, I’m here to sing you the praises of…..epsom salts. Yes! Like your grandmother used to use! The ones that come in a large four-pound container that looks like a milk carton! Sexxxay.
I first discovered the joy of epsom salts when I got an incredibly gnarly ingrown toenail. After paying a doctor an absurd amount of money to hack it out (with what I later realized were $5 ingrown toenail scissors), I asked him if there was anything I could do to make it hurt less and to keep it from happening again.
“Well,” he said, “obviously you’ll want to use epsom salts.”
Huh. That would not have occurred to me. Advil? Sure. Neosporin? Absolutely. Some sort of prescription-issue painkilling ointment? Bring it. But little crystals of magesium sulfate that you dissolve in water and then soak your foot in? Sounds old fashioned and silly.
Well it may be old fashioned, but it ain’t silly. Magnesium sulfate has anti-inflammatory properties, so it’s excellent for soaking sore feet, and it made that toenail feel waaay better. My husband, who is prone to sprained ankles, dissolved two cups of the stuff in a bucket of warm water and reported a dramatic improvement in ankle pain and swelling. And since I’ve been training for a half marathon, I’ve started taking epsom salt baths after particularly grueling long runs and my hips, which are prone to soreness, feel WAY better. Miraculous.
It’s got other uses too- tofu binding agent (not kidding), natural laxative, broken-lava-lamp reviver (apparently it makes things more buoyant and can help merge the flecks of wax in a lava lamp that’s been shaken back into a cohesive mass). Really, you should check out the wikipedia page. Fascinating. In short, it’s a pretty screaming deal for a couple bucks.
Epsom Salts, available for $6.99 for a 4-pound box on drugstore.com, and substantially cheaper at your local drugstore.
Ris
A soak bath with Epsom salts is the best for sore muscles! I’m glad I’m not the only person under 60 who uses it.
February 10th, 2010 @ 9:27 am
Rachel*
This post was full of some magic words to a fellow runner! I’m so going to have to try the epsom salt bath. I’m training for a 25k that’s in May and am starting to feel my own hip starting to get cranky!
Thanks for the tip!
February 10th, 2010 @ 12:37 pm
Lisa G.
Woah, I sort of forgot about the existence of this stuff. Thanks for reminding me–I may just have to go out and procure some!
February 10th, 2010 @ 9:01 pm