Hot bath baths is a popular folk method of treating SARS. Sometimes only water is used, and sometimes mustard powder is added to it. We decided to check whether such a procedure is effective against the symptoms of a cold.
This method is extremely popular, including on the network where you can find dozens recipes "how to steam your legs with a cold correctly", Especially many options - with mustard. As an alternative to mustard, some suggest using turpentine. They write about the benefits of soaring legs in the fight against a cold Bloggers, sites medical centers and pharmacies. However, row resources Notesthat the procedure has restrictions, such as high body temperature.
A cold is disease The upper respiratory tract, in which the mucous membrane of the nose, throat and sinuses are inflamed. A cold is called more than one specific disease - this is a group of symptoms caused by various viruses, most often rhinoviruses. The disease is usually not considered serious, but can significantly worsen the quality of life for several days. Symptoms of colds can vary depending on the type of virus and the state of the human immune system. Most often, the symptoms are the following: nasal congestion, sneezing and runny nose, sore throat (from light discomfort to severe pain during swallowing), cough, headache, weakness and fatigue, general feeling of malaise, muscle and articular pain, fever.
It is worth noting that medicines are against the common cold does not exist, it is possible only to eliminate or relieve its symptoms. A hot foot bath can allegedly facilitate the congestion of the nose, help with a runny nose, eliminate the cough and accelerate the general recovery, and also prevent complications. However, doctors of evidence -based medicine relate to this method very skeptical. Therapist Irina Yartseva Notes: “There will be no clinical effect from immersing the legs in boiling water. The steamed wet legs can be hypothermia. ” And the doctor and popularizer of evidence -based medicine, Alexei Vodovozov, adds: "Mustard in socks can lead to a chemical skin of the skin up to the formation of blisters." Allergist and immunologist Olga Zhogoleva, speaking at the forum "Scientists Against myths", noted: convincing scientific data in favor of the fact that hot bathroom will relieve symptoms of SARS. Famous pediatrician Evgeny Komarovsky tells About this danger of the procedure: “Conduct an experiment. Go to the Moscow burn center and ask any doctor how do you feel about the procedure called "soar your legs"? Just be prepared for what the doctor will tell you. Imagine the situation: a child sits with his feet in a basin, and mom, without removing his legs from this basin, adds boiling water there ... "
However, there are still some research on the benefits of hot baths. For example, in 2021 Egyptian doctors Spent Experiment: 100 children hospitalized with SARS were treated either with hot foot baths (38–40 ° C), or without, according to the standard protocol. Before the start of the procedure, the body temperature in the experimental group was an average of 38.7 ° C ± 0.417 (that is, from 38.3 ° C to 39.1 ° C approximately), and in the control - 38.6 ° C ± 0.587 (from 38.1 ° C to 39.1 ° C). After conducting the legs for one group and standard treatment for another, the doctors received the following values: 37.4 ° C ± 0.496 (that is, from 37 ° C to 37.8 ° C) in a group that hit the legs and 37.8 ° C ± 0.554 (from 37.3 ° C to 38.3 ° C) - in the second. In general, the participants who were soaring their legs, of course, were, of course, there were, however, in practice, a decrease in temperature compared to participants who received only standard treatment, very insignificantly - about 0.4 ° C. Given that even a healthy person in the body temperature at different times of the day Maybe Very within 0.5 ° C, such a decrease does not look significant.
Indian doctors in 2020 Spent A similar experiment (however, with the participation of adults aged 20-30 years), and the water temperature was slightly higher - from 39 ° C to 43 ° C. In the intervention group, the temperature on average decreased from 38.5 ° C to 37.7 ° C (taking into account the scatter - from 38–39.2 ° C to 37.2–38.1 ° C), and in the control group - from 38.5 ° C to 38.2 ° C (taking into account the scatter - from 37.9–39.1 ° C to 37.6–38.7 ° C). That is, the average decrease was only half a grade, which again did not look like a clinically significant result. Another group of Indian scientists Received A little more significant data: a bath for legs with hot water in addition to ordinary drug therapy helped to knock down the temperature at 0.6 ° C. And the third group of researchers, also from India, Demonstratedthat a hot foot bath knocks children 6-12 years old by a temperature of only 0.3 ° C more effective than standard treatment.
The influence of a hot foot bath on other symptoms of colds, such as sore throat and nasal congestion, were not studied by scientists. However, sore throat and nasal congestion arise Due to the fact that various anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory cytokines are released in the place of infection, and tissue edema and nerves are packed. Heating of the legs in no way can force the body to reduce the development of these agents, as well as reduce local edema in organs so remote from the feet. Therefore, even theoretically, foot baths are not able to weaken these symptoms.
Vasily Vlasov, professor of the Higher School of Economics and a specialist in the field of evidence -based medicine, in a commentary for “verified” summarizes: “As always, there are no good research with such ways. And, as always, it is important to be careful with boiling water and moderate. And most importantly, from such a procedure it is worth expecting first of all pleasure, and not youth and health. ”
The only thing that hot bath baths are really can Help is to relax and relieve tension in the muscles of the legs that occurs with colds. Otherwise, this folk method, despite its popularity, is rather useless, and sometimes (for example, when the water in the bath is too hot) and is dangerous, as it is fraught with burns. Although the experiments show that the legs baths, if they accompany the standard treatment, can reduce the temperature, the difference is very insignificant - no more than a daily fluctuation in a person’s temperature.
Image on the cover: Dall-E
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