Epsom Salt and Sole Toughness

RunningPirate

RunningPirate

Barefooters
Mar 23, 2012
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#1
Evenin' Folks!

OK, I've already regaled you with tales of my initial foray into BF including foot sensitivity, searing pain and a veritable plethora of cuss words. I have gotten the point that time, persistence and patience will ultimately lead to building up nice pads on my soles, thus ending said negative effects. Now, I have something else that sort of ties in to this...

I have toenail fungus (feel free to drag and drop that factoid into the TMI folder on your desktop, if you need to). I am attemting to treat this with regular soaks in epsom salt baths. My question is: Are the epsom salt soaks negating the sole-toughening process?

Thankx,

RunningPirate
 
#2
no, don't worry about it.

afaik from various discussions I've read about toenail fungus, the epsom salts aren't going to help with the problem, either.

lot of info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onychomycosis

and if you search the topic at the RWOL forums, you might find a few lengthy threads with good info.

if you really want to fix the problem - have the nail(s) removed. They grow back in about 9-12 months anyway...
 
#4
Remove the toenails? Geez! :eek:

I know someone who had this. There's some prescription medication you have to take to get rid of it, and it takes a long, long time. It doesn't occur in people who live barefoot, so to keep it away, it's best to go barefoot as much as possible. I bet it will even help the healing process.
 
#5
i believe soaking your feet in your urine will help.
 
#6
If you have a compounding pharmacy in the area go talk to them about a preparation for nail fungus. A solution of antifungal in a DMSO base applied topically might eradicate the it. http://www.livestrong.com/article/475565-dmso-for-nail-fungus/.

As you run BF more you do develop fat pads which make your soles slightly fuller in appearance, however if you think you need to toughen the skin you should address your form. I speak from my own experience. If you are pushing off instead of lifting the foot you will get hot spots and blisters and I doubt any amount of toughening will prevent these for occurring.

~David
 
#7
I had this problem years ago and took the prescription which worked, but it comes with a liver function test. Not sure that I'd take the same risk now, but can admit (vainly) that I like my feet better. I don't think the epsom salts will do it but have heard that tea tree oil or listerine can help, depending on the level of infection.
 
#9
RunningPirate said:
Are the epsom salt soaks negating the sole-toughening process?
Click to expand...

In my experience Epsom salt soaks are just fine, do not worry about disrupting your sole-toughening process.
I have been running barefoot for 22 months now and I do regular Epsom salt soaks about once a week.
Sometimes I run on rougher trails and these soaks really help with healing all kinds of bruises I get on this type of a terrain.
I have not noticed any sole-softening after using the Epsom salt, quite the opposite actually.
Good luck and Happy running !
 
#10
Q: what are epsom salts exactly? Over here, "Basen" (base, alkaline, high pH) salts are very popular for all sorts of things including sports therapy. In fact, I took a nice hot pH8.5 bath yesterday. I also brush my teeth with pure Basensalz ...

What effect do epsom salts have on the pH?
 
#11
#12
DavidP said:
If you have a compounding pharmacy in the area go talk to them about a preparation for nail fungus. A solution of antifungal in a DMSO base applied topically might eradicate the it. http://www.livestrong.com/article/475565-dmso-for-nail-fungus/.

As you run BF more you do develop fat pads which make your soles slightly fuller in appearance, however if you think you need to toughen the skin you should address your form. I speak from my own experience. If you are pushing off instead of lifting the foot you will get hot spots and blisters and I doubt any amount of toughening will prevent these for occurring.

~David
Click to expand...

OK, so two things:

1) Until now, I've never heard of a compounding pharmacy and Googling it shows that there's one down the peninsula from me. Thanks for the tip on that!
2) As for the feet, I did not know it was the development of fat pads on the bottom of the feet. I just assumed that it was a tough layer of ski that led to increased tolerance/reduced sensitivity due to surface contact...basically, that's the effect that I was afraid of reversing with the epsom salt bath - so it sounds like I'm OK.

Thanks for the response!
 
#13
Barefoot TJ said:
It doesn't occur in people who live barefoot, so to keep it away, it's best to go barefoot as much as possible. I bet it will even help the healing process.
Click to expand...

Indeed. The plan is to be more barefooter (yes, I know - bad English) from here on out. I'm just trying to knock down the fungus that already exists.
 
#18
RunningPirate said:
Indeed. The plan is to be more barefooter (yes, I know - bad English) from here on out. I'm just trying to knock down the fungus that already exists.
Click to expand...
Curious about how the toenail fungus is healing for you. I actually never got it UNTIL I started running and going barefoot regularly. Don't know if that has anything to do with it or not.

I've researched it some, did some vinegar water soaks for a while, then haven't started that again since getting back from Hawaii. It seemed like the time in the ocean water may have helped with one toenail, but not with the others. The "healing" toenail seems to want to come off sometime soon, now. Very sensitive to accidentally knocking into anything. Since the vacation, my toenails have had gel polish on them (I know some of you can relate :p ) so the horrible look hasn't bothered me as much. Plus, I wasn't sure if the soaking would penetrate well with the polish on. Such a weird problem! I didn't even know toenail fungus existed until I got it!
 
#19
happysongbird said:
Curious about how the toenail fungus is healing for you. I actually never got it UNTIL I started running and going barefoot regularly. Don't know if that has anything to do with it or not.

I've researched it some, did some vinegar water soaks for a while, then haven't started that again since getting back from Hawaii. It seemed like the time in the ocean water may have helped with one toenail, but not with the others. The "healing" toenail seems to want to come off sometime soon, now. Very sensitive to accidentally knocking into anything. Since the vacation, my toenails have had gel polish on them (I know some of you can relate :p ) so the horrible look hasn't bothered me as much. Plus, I wasn't sure if the soaking would penetrate well with the polish on. Such a weird problem! I didn't even know toenail fungus existed until I got it!
Click to expand...
I used to have a toenail fungus and going barefoot cleared it up for me. How weird that it's different for each person. I had mine for years and years and years and couldn't get rid of it. Stopped wearing shoes and at some point it disappeared, although I'm not sure when it did exactly.
 
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