Relieve Aching Feet at Night with a Cooling Menthol Foot Cream
After a long day spent on your feet – especially squeezed into a pair of height-boosting high heels – it’s almost inevitable to be left with aching, sore feet. Finally slipping off those toe-crunching stilettos at the end of the night brings sweet relief, but that throbbing pain and inflammation often still lingers long after. Fortunately, taking the time to gently massage a menthol-infused foot cream into your weary soles before bed can help provide incredibly soothing comfort and much needed relief.
What Causes Foot Pain from Extended Time in Heels
Unlike sensible sneakers designed for comfort and support, high heel shoes dramatically shift the alignment of your feet and put pressure on areas that rarely see such concentrated force. Essentially, they tilt your foot forward so more pressure and weight lands on the balls and heels versus being evenly distributed.
This forces these sensitive areas to overwork to support the rest of your foot and throws off natural positioning. Meanwhile, arches are no longer getting the support they need either. Constant friction and excessive pressure leads to inflammation and tissue damage.
Some common pains and damages from prolonged high heel wear includes:
Inflammation and Tenderness in the Balls and Heels
The bulk of your weight lands on the balls and heels while walking in heels. Far more pressure concentrates here versus flats, compressing tissues and nerves. This compression irritates the surrounding area, triggering swelling and redness. Skin also becomes tender to touch.
You end up with enlarged, angry red hot spots that flare up with the slightest touch – even soft bedsheets can be unbearable. Inflammation intensifies the more steps you take, making riding home at the end of the night pure torture.
Cramping and Spasming Muscles
Muscles and tendons along the bottom of feet rapidly fatigue from constantly fighting against heels’ unnatural foot positioning all day long. The extra effort required to balance on a tiny stiletto heel also overworks intrinsic foot muscles.
Eventually these exhausted muscles cramp up into tight, painful knots you can actually see and feel. Spasming arches and calves are especially common. This debilitating cramping gets worse at night once feet start to finally relax post-heels.
General Fatigue and Discomfort
Even without noticeable inflammation or cramps, feet simply feel tired out and vaguely uncomfortable after too long in constricting heels. Blood pools in lower extremities away from the heart, creating heaviness and fatigue as feet fail to properly refresh themselves.
Natural foot padding also compresses down, reducing crucial arch and heel support. Soles feel bruised and beaten up, quickly becoming distressed with even minor additional pressures. Squishy shoe inserts help, but arches remain tender and unstable.
Ultimately these issues arise because high heel shoes dramatically reduce stability and support for our feet’s delicate structures. Kicking off constricting shoes brings relief, but residual inflammation, strained muscles and bruising continues brewing below the surface – often worsening as feet finally relax. This delay leads to rude awakenings of intense throbbing and debilitating cramps the next morning after feet initially felt fine removing heels.
Fortunately there’s a quick, easy solution to promote healing right away before further damage develops: menthol foot cream.
Why Use Menthol for Aching Feet
Menthol is an organic compound derived from oil extracts of the Mentha plant, a mint native to Europe and Asia. Various chemical processes convert the crude oil into a crystalline powder, which manufacturers mix into topical health products like muscle rubs and foot creams.
You likely recognize menthol from its strong, cooling scent in cough drops and muscle rubs. This sky minty aroma comes from menthol triggering cold receptors when applied to skin and mucous membranes. As far as mechanisms go, menthol basically overwhelms nerve endings, preventing them from also sensing warmth. This tricks the brain into feeling an icy blast, even at room temperature.
Beyond subjective cooling sensations, menthol objectively improves blood flow and provides pain relief – perfect for recovering inflamed, angry heels and arches after ambitious stilettos.
Cools Down Hot, Inflamed Areas
The sharp cooling sensation brings especially targeted relief to tender hot spots around the heels and balls of feet. These flaming areas bloat with fluid and blood, registering as skin surface warmth and throbbing pain inside.
The Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation reviewed multiple trials observing menthol’s effects on various inflammation-based conditions. Uniformly across arthritis, strains and tattoo inflammation, menthol produced significant cooling that also reduced swelling and redness.
Research points to menthol overwhelming nerve receptors so they essentially max out heat sensors trying to process extreme cold signals. This numbs their ability to also sense and transmit hot inflammation signals.
For weary feet post-heels, menthol applied via foot cream blankets throbbing heels and balls with an icy kiss of relief. The swelling, heat and angry flareups causing this pain temporarily calm down.
Boosts Blood Flow
In addition to numbing heated swelling, menthol also actively improves circulation – speeding up the body’s natural recovery even more.
Menthol encourages vasodilation: the relaxation of arteries allowing higher blood flow. Arthritis & Rheumatology found applying menthol contouring gel relaxed underlying blood vessels for freer circulation. This effect helps in multiple ways:
Firstly, fresh oxygenated blood flushes out inflammatory waste products pooling around microtears and damaged muscle tissue. Hydrating, nutrient-rich blood takes their place to heal damage and reduce soreness instead. Massaging in menthol foot cream nicely encourages this circulation while also directly stimulating muscles.
The rush of blood also efficiently reduces physical bruising and trauma incurred while tromping around in heels. Extra blood flow whisks away leaked blood pigments swelling up feet’s interstitial spaces so colour fades faster. The iron-rich blood also brings essential minerals needed for any tiny fractures and bone contusions to rebuild dense, sturdy heel bones.
Finally, chilled nerve endings also fire off stronger upon detecting icy menthol sensations on your skin. This reaction involuntary speeds up adjacent blood flow to quickly rewarm tissues for self-preservation. Conveniently, this gets healing blood pumping faster to swollen arches and sore heels as an automatic reflex.
Through all these circulation mechanisms – flushing out waste, flooding with nutrients, whisking away bruises and reflexive rewarming – menthol foot cream actively speeds up recovery of damaged foot tissues. Incoming blood is rich in reparative components too, expedited delivery supercharging natural healing.
Rejuvenates Muscles
This menthol-boosted blood flow provides another bonus: washing out lactic acid buildup behind strained, exhausted muscles in active feet tissue.
Lactic acid stems from intense anaerobic muscle exertion – like balancing and walking for hours on unnaturally angled high heel shoes. Your flexor muscles must constantly engage to keep each precarious step stable without natural foot alignment or support.
Demand ultimately exceeds oxygen-rich blood supply, forcing muscles to inefficiently burn carbs and glucose instead for energy. This anaerobic fermentation accumulates acidic lactate waste. The compound strains muscle fibers and triggers local inflammation.
Usually blood promptly clears lactic acid post-exercise as muscles relax. But constricted feet crammed in stylish stilettos cannot properly flush and refresh themselves all day long. Acid waste accumulates, eventually hitting pain receptor trigger points. Feet feel heavy and tender.
This aching discomfort continues building even resting post-heels as circulation slowly returns at its normal pace. Menthol foot cream solves this by actively speeding up fresh blood flow to efficiently whisk out acidic waste. Another Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation study found consistent improvements reducing delayed-onset muscle soreness after menthol rub application thanks to enhanced blood flow.
This whisking away of inflammatory lactate revitalizes and renews strength in overworked foot flexors. Muscles reset back to neutral pH instead of further acidifying and tensing up into bed-bounding cramps all night. Restored oxygen flow also lets muscles fully relax so you finally sleep comfortably. No more falling asleep with frozen water bottles vainly trying to calm spasming arches!
Provides Mild Pain Relief
Finally, menthol more directly tackles pain by interacting with underlying neurons too. Menthol demonstrates mild pain killing effects by temporarily blocking inflammatory compound production and pain signal transmissions to the brain.
The same receptor interactions creating cooling sensations can also mildly numb pain sensing. Activating cold points creates background noise decreasing other sensations’ relative intensity. It essentially reframes pain as just feeling coolness instead.
Additionally, a Skin Pharmacology and Physiology study found menthol weakly inhibits inflammatory regulators COX-2 and TNF-a. These compounds drive swelling and sensitization of pain neurons. Less enhances pain threshold so feet must sustain higher pressures before alerting discomfort. This partly offsets high heel shoes eliminating natural padding and support.
While less directly analgesic than dedicated pain relief creams, menthol still notably dials down persistent aches from irritated feet tissue damage. The calming chill outcompetes angry heat signals to instead promise soothing relief.
How to Massage the Menthol Foot Cream into Feet
With science supporting menthol’s ability to cool inflammation, boost circulation and provide mild analgesic effects, a menthol-based foot cream is the perfect home remedy for soothing weary heels and arches post-stilettos. Follow these tips for applying it:
Step 1: Thoroughly Clean Feet
First, wash feet with gentle soap and water after removing shoes for the day. Rinse away any traces of soap, then dry feet thoroughly with a clean towel. Proper cleaning removes dirt, oils or product residue that could interfere with cream absorption later.
Be very gentle during washing too – swollen areas feel extra tender to the touch. Avoid scrubbing or pressure that could further aggravate inflammation. Pat clean skin dry rather than rubbing as well.
With fresh, clean feet you’re ready for menthol relief!
Step 2: Apply a Thick Layer All Over Feet
Scoop out a generous amount of menthol foot cream, about the size of a large walnut per foot. Smooth the thick cream over the entire tops and bottoms of feet in a thin, even layer from ankles down to toes.
Don’t be shy with application – more cream allows better distribution and absorption. The cooling minty sensation starts working instantly.
Step 3: Gently Massage Cream into Skin
Use the pads of your thumbs and fingers to gently massage the foot cream into skin using light, circulating pressure. Slowly work from the ankles downward to toes to boost circulation in the same direction. Apply extra attention focusing on tender spots around the heels, balls of feet and strained arches.
The cream may feel initially cold from the menthol.Power through this as the underlying numbness increasingly blocks pain receptor sensations instead.
Step 4: Let Skin Fully Absorb into Skin
After thoroughly massaging in foot cream over top and bottom of both feet for 5-10 minutes, give the area another five minutes to fully absorb. Menthol’s penetrative properties help the cream soak down to swollen subdermal tissues and muscles.
Notice the skin looks less angry red as swelling cooperation and inflammation dies down. The tingling cooling sensation lets you know it’s working!
For overnight relief, apply before bed then don protective socks so sheets don’t rub on tender areas. Repeat morning and night after wearing troublesome heels.
Extra Tips for Improving Overall Foot Health
While menthol foot cream offers quick relief undoing high heel damage, practicing good foot care and maintenance helps avoid issues cropping up in the first place. Be sure to also:
Choose Supportive, Well-Fitted Shoes
Picking better heels prevents problems down the road. Shoes should fit snugly in the back without rubbing or sliding to prevent friction blisters. Arch-conforming insoles better distribute compression forces.
Look for at least 1-inch platforms under the ball of the foot to cushion landings. Chunkier 2-3 inch block heels offer more stability than skinny stilettos. Leather or suede uppers also flex to accommodate swelling better than rigid materials.
When shopping, visit an actual store over ordering online to properly test the fit. Walk around the store a bit to check for any pinching or slippage issues. The perfect heels feel sublime slipping on and strutting around in!
Stretch and Strengthen Feet
Simple towel stretches and intrinsic foot exercises enhance flexibility, keeping muscles supple and strong enough to handle sporadic sky-high heel use.
Sit with legs extended. Place a towel looped over the top of one foot holding both ends. Gently pull back increasing the stretch through the arch and top of the foot. Swap feet and repeat a few times per session. Doing this stretch morning and night keeps plantar fascia tissue elastic.
Pointing and flexing toes, tracing letters with feet and gently pulling toes also strengthens intrinsic muscles supporting overall foot health.
Apply Ice After Heel Use
Icing heels and arches reduces swelling brewing under the surface post-wear before it causes issues. Use an ice pack wrapped in a thin towel for 10-15 minutes after kicking off heels for the day or night. The cold constricts blood vessels limiting leaked fluid from straining small foot capillaries.
Frozen water bottles also conveniently mould to the arch shape. Just be careful not to freeze feet too intensely avoid frostbite.
Consider Custom Orthotics
Rigid shoe inserts professionally fitted to your feet provides extra stability and structure high heels lack. Custom orthotics redistribute weight off susceptible areas and support arches according to your specific shape and gait patterns. See a podiatrist for proper molding and fitting.
Over-the-counter gel insoles also cushion balls and heels with shock absorbing materials. These provide easy cheap comfort suitable for less demanding wear. Replace monthly or sooner if overly compressed.
Following these supplementary care tips reduces the likelihood of dealing with bothersome foot pain and strain even when occasionally rocking ultra high stilettos. Stay proactive and prepared!
Massage Away High Heel Foot Pain Overnight
Despite aesthetically elevating our look, high heels unfortunately do a number on our vulnerable feet not designed to support such dramatic arch shifts and concentrated pressure. After a cheeky night strutting around sky-high stilettos, taking a few minutes to gently massage menthol foot cream into throbbing soles can work wonders reviving aching arches and sore spots.
The penetrative menthol provides instant cooling relief that also calms inflammation and flushes out bruising over time. Follow up with gentler shoes, stretches and supportive inserts to keep feet happy and healthy for many more nights out! Your arches and heels will thank you for the rejuvenating recovery boost.