Uses in cooking, medicine, cosmetology and other fields of activity. Often a person does not even suspect what a huge number of uses can be found in a particular substance or product.
Mustard was also used by our great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers, and maybe people of the most ancient nations. The recipes that have come down to us and have been preserved indicate that earlier mustard powder was used exclusively for medicinal purposes.
For example, mustard patches for colds known to everyone from childhood. In fact, the first mustard plasters were far from plasters, but simple paper impregnated with mustard powder, when heated with warm water, the powder was activated and began to act. Much later, special stickers and heating pads really appeared, which also included mustard.
You probably remember how, as a child, after a long walk in cold weather or after rain, your grandmother made you warm your feet with mustard. Previously, it seemed to us that it was an absolutely useless ritual, however, everything has its rational grain.
Yes, and today there are a large number of people who prefer to soar their feet with mustard, and not swallow packages of expensive drugs for a cold.
In order not to harm your health, using such folk remedies, you need to know that mustard foot baths can only be used during a period of normal temperature. If you have a fever or chills, then soaring your legs in such a situation is even dangerous - it can make it heavier.
As a treatment for a cold, you need to soak your feet with mustard several times a day. At the same time, do not forget that after the procedure it is necessary to spend several hours in bed. Before you make a mustard bath, prepare everything you need. You need to take a few tablespoons of mustard powder and add it to warm, but not too hot water. The fact is that the active substance of mustard begins to be activated only in warm water, and too high a temperature can destroy it.
You can first add aromatic oils or herbs to the water - this will help relax your body, and the effect of the treatment will come much faster.
Do not forget about the warm one that you need to drink, covered with a warm blanket, while taking a foot bath. So the body will be warmed not only from the outside, but also from the inside.
After the procedure is completed, you need to put on warm feet and cover yourself with a blanket. If you have a cough, then a mustard plaster in the interscapular region or on the sternum can be a good addition to the treatment after the bath.
Far from all people are allowed with mustard; for some, this procedure can cause unpleasant consequences. For example, in people with chronic inflammatory diseases in the acute stage (especially of the pelvic organs), with trophic lesions of arterial hypertension, with blood diseases and neoplasms. Therefore, before using any folk remedy for yourself or your loved ones, think about it: will it harm?
As mentioned above, mustard powder is currently widely used in cosmetology. Various mustard-based masks and wraps stimulate all tissue regeneration processes and accelerate hair growth. But you can also soar your feet with mustard for aesthetic purposes. To do this, add a little soda and sea salt to the mustard powder bath. It is enough to hold your feet in such water for about 30-40 minutes, then rub it with a coarse brush - and your legs will be like new. The rough skin of the feet softens under the influence of all these substances, and due to the fact that the flow of blood to the legs increases, it is quickly restored.
Even today, many parents, when a child coughs, prefer to soar his legs with mustard, not relying on ready-made preparations, but trusting traditional, as they say, "grandmother's" recipes. In the case of hot foot baths, this trust is fully justified, since modern medicine has proven their effectiveness.
What are the healing properties of hot foot baths based on?
Soar legs should be at the first sign of a cold. This procedure can prevent further development of the disease. But how do such simple ingredients do it?
How does hot water work? The mechanism is quite simple. With tonsillitis and respiratory diseases, inflammation of the soft tissues begins. It is often accompanied by swelling that makes swallowing and breathing difficult. Hot water improves blood circulation and this helps to drain fluids. After the swelling subsides, the child feels better, and the inflammation passes faster.
Why is mustard added to water? This spice is not without reason called burning. The ingredients included in its composition act on the skin irritatingly, this enhances the effect of a hot foot bath. Drops of essential oils, when added to water, give the same result as inhalations, stimulating the removal of phlegm from the walls of the respiratory tract and facilitating expectoration.
Each of these components has a very interesting composition. For example, mustard (even in powder form) retains many vitamins, as well as acids (in particular, linoleic, oleic, erucic).
In addition, mustard contains glycosides such as snigrin and sinalbin - their properties are used to treat bronchitis and coughs, because special patches and some ointments are made from this spice. All products based on it have an irritating and warming effect - just remember the traditional mustard plasters.
Eucalyptus essential oil, which is recommended to be added to foot baths, has strong phytoncidal properties, which are used in the manufacture of various pharmaceutical preparations. It also has an antiseptic and analgesic effect.
In aromatherapy, it is believed that it allows you to quickly restore strength after illness and reveals the internal reserves of the body. Eucalyptus essential oil also has a pleasant aroma. It can be combined with other oils. For example, tea tree oil is often used for coughing, 2-3 drops of which can be added to the water during this procedure.
Some recipes suggest adding a decoction of chamomile to the water. It is believed that the substances contained in it help treat dry coughs by speeding up the thinning and elimination of sputum.
Foot soaring is a procedure that is good because it can be combined with other therapeutic methods. It does not replace taking medications and physiotherapeutic procedures, but increases their effectiveness, also by improving blood circulation.
How to soar legs: simple rules
This procedure seems to be quite simple. In fact, there are certain rules here. So how to soar the legs of a child? To begin with, the baby needs to be prepared for this procedure, to explain what is to be done now.
If the mother is calm, then the child will be sure that nothing bad will happen. You can tell why you need to warm your feet, compose some funny rhyme or a story about how fabulous little animals soar their paws.
Be sure to check the temperature of the water in the tub. It should not exceed 40 ° C, then you can be sure that the procedure will not increase the load on the heart muscle.
Now you can proceed directly to the procedure itself. To soar your legs when coughing, you need to take an ordinary basin or a large enough bucket for water. They must first be washed with water with the addition of baking soda (2-3 tablespoons for the entire volume of water, this will be enough).
A soft cloth should be placed on the bottom of the basin or other container. It could be a flannel diaper. Firstly, this way the child will be more comfortable, and secondly, it will enhance the effectiveness of the procedure. For the first bath, you need to take 2-3 tablespoons of mustard powder. When the cough begins to pass, this amount can be reduced to 1-1.5 tablespoons.
The child needs to be seated so that he is comfortable. It is possible to pick up some books or toys so that the child does not have time to get bored. Although you can only soar your legs for 10 minutes, but this is enough for a restless baby to start acting up, so toys will come in handy.
So, the child should be asked to slowly, not abruptly, gradually getting used to the temperature, put the legs in a basin. After 4-5 minutes, you can carefully add hot water. As soon as the skin on the legs turns slightly red, you can finish the procedure.
Feet should be properly wiped, and then put on warm socks. Hot foot baths can be done up to four times a day. In addition to mustard, you can use essential oils of cedar and eucalyptus, herbal decoctions (for example, chamomile or oak bark).
The effectiveness of the procedure can be enhanced. For example, at night, a child can wear ordinary cotton socks, in which they put mustard powder, poured into a gauze bag. This will increase the thermal effect.
Only in the morning you must definitely shake off the mustard from your feet and put on clean socks so that there is no irritation on the skin. You can rub your feet with a warming ointment. Some mothers use turpentine for these purposes, but this is a rather dangerous remedy; it cannot be used at all in undiluted form.
Is it possible to soar legs not only when coughing, but also with other infectious diseases? This remedy has proven itself in the treatment of colds, coughs and runny nose. If the infection is of bacterial origin, then soaring your legs is basically useless.
In addition, hot foot baths will not interfere as a prophylactic if the child gets his feet wet during the cold season. But before going out into the street, this cannot be done.
When you can not soar legs: contraindications
Cough, of course, needs to be treated, but babies and children aged 2–3 years are not recommended to soar their legs. Firstly, the baby's leg can be very sensitive to such a high temperature. After all, the skin on the heels has not yet had time to harden.
Secondly, babies cannot sit in one place for a long time. And you can keep it only by force, and these are whims, tears, screams, in a word, everything that does not contribute to the treatment of the disease.
Thirdly, children of younger preschool age may simply be afraid of an unfamiliar procedure. But starting from the age of 4-5, when the child is already getting used to obeying the elders, you can try soaring legs.
But even then you need to be very careful, because the skin of the child is still tender and feels the temperature of the water in a completely different way than ours. And, of course, a kettle with boiling water should not be placed next to a child - it can even hurt him purely by accident.
In addition, allergy sufferers should soak their feet in plain water, without any additives like herbs, mustard or essential oils, since all these ingredients can cause allergic reactions.
When is it contraindicated to soar the legs of a child when coughing? This definitely cannot be done at high temperatures. The body already suffers in the fight against infection, it does not need to create a critical load.
Skin diseases are also a contraindication for hot foot baths if you do them with mustard or other additives. After all, these ingredients can cause irritation, and if there are scratches, abrasions, and other damage on the skin, they only aggravate the condition.
In addition, the procedure is contraindicated for those children with pathologies of the cardiovascular system, since hot water acting on the limbs for even 10 minutes leads to an increase in heart rate and creates an additional load on the heart.
This also applies to hypertensive patients - after all, children can also suffer from high blood pressure. If in doubt about whether it is possible to carry out such a procedure, it is better to consult a doctor.
If you are chilled in the wind or wet in the rain, you feel the first signs of a cold, then warming your feet will be the best preventive and therapeutic measure. Use the folk method of fighting a cold and get ready to soak your feet with mustard.
Familiar from childhood, the method of "mustard" treatment is actually a full-fledged physiotherapy procedure. It is based on the principle of reflex expansion of blood vessels under the influence of high temperatures. The thermal procedure accelerates blood circulation in all organs and activates the body's defenses in case of hypothermia.
It is not for nothing that Chinese medicine has used the feet since ancient times as a zone of influence on the entire body or on specific organs. Nowadays, scientists have already proven that, for example, the feet are the reflexogenic zone of the upper respiratory tract. This is an additional motivation to warm them up at the first sign of illness and in the midst of a cold.
Thermal procedures include not only the use of dry mustard, but also mustard foot baths and mustard plasters. But you should always remember that all "mustard" procedures are not carried out at a patient's temperature above 37 degrees C.
1) It is necessary to apply mustard foot baths, “soar” the legs. For this procedure, pour hot water at a comfortable temperature (no more than 38 degrees C) into a basin or bucket, add 1 tablespoon of mustard powder per liter of water. Lower your legs into the basin, sit for a few minutes to get used to the water temperature and warm your legs. It is necessary to gradually add boiling water so that the temperature is constant throughout the entire procedure, which lasts about a quarter of an hour.
After a foot warming bath, dry your feet thoroughly with a towel, after rinsing them with running water. Put on socks made of natural wool, go to bed. Drink a cup of herbal tea with raspberries or lemon and honey, adding ten grams of cognac if desired.
Pregnancy is a contraindication for this healing and warming procedure - it is strictly not allowed to soar legs in this position. In addition, people suffering from pustular diseases and varicose veins should refrain from foot baths.
1) Dry mustard, a powdered substance, can be put into cotton socks and worn at night. Natural skin moisturizing of the feet stimulates the release of phytoncides and essential oils. This is an old and very effective way to treat colds for adults and children.
However, in recent times, in order to avoid irritation of sensitive skin and even mustard "burns", it is recommended to wear two pairs of cotton socks and pour mustard powder between them. We advise doing this in the treatment of children, the elderly, diabetics and diseases of the veins of the lower extremities.
3) Mustard plasters can also be used to warm up the legs. To do this, they are placed on the leg calves and on the upper chest. The procedure is done every other day or every day, for fifteen minutes, several times a day. The feeling of "burning" should be moderate. After the procedure, lubricate the application sites with baby cream.
Who shouldn't use "mustard" treatment?
Unfortunately, allergy sufferers should refrain from close contact with mustard powder, as it causes severe skin and respiratory allergic reactions.
For the same reason, mustard is not used to treat children with diathesis. Here you need to select other, more gentle methods of treatment: soda and oil foot baths, rubbing the feet with the Golden Star or Doctor MOM balm, turpentine ointment.
Soaring your legs is an easy and effective way to prevent the disease at an early stage. Baths with mustard and various herbal decoctions have a healing and relaxing effect, strengthen the immune system and help fight the first symptoms of flu or colds. Many parents are interested in whether it is possible to soar the legs of a child. Pediatricians do not recommend performing the procedure for children under 4-5 years old, in extreme cases, you can make a bath from 2-3 years old, but only after consulting a pediatrician. Guys feet with mustard is prohibited for children under one year old!
Foot baths are useful for coughing, with a runny nose and other first, but without fever. In warm water, blood vessels dilate, and blood circulation accelerates and becomes freer. This contributes to the outflow of fluid, the removal of edema and inflammation. As a result, the baby begins to breathe easier and can fall asleep faster. In addition, increased blood flow stimulates and accelerates the activation of immunity.
Foot baths, along with other treatments, speed up recovery and keep the cold from spreading throughout the body. However, this procedure is not always safe. So, you can’t soar your legs at a temperature or allergies. If there are no such symptoms, it is important to properly prepare the bath. In this article, we will look at how to soar the legs with mustard for a child.
When You Can't Soar Legs
- Heat. If the temperature has risen above 37 degrees, you can’t soar your legs. Such a procedure will provoke an even greater increase in heat and increase the load on the heart;
- If you have allergies. Some children are prone to negative reactions to cinnamon, aromatic oils, esters and herbs that are added to the bath. Therefore, it is important to use only safe components that the baby is 100% allergic to;
- Skin diseases and irritations. The most common among children under 3 years old is. It is not recommended to use a bath with mustard and other herbs, even with a slight redness, such as a mosquito bite. Mustard irritates the skin, so it can only worsen the situation.
How to soar baby's legs
Proper preparation of water is important in this procedure. In terms of temperature, it should not be higher than 38-40 degrees! Even if it seems to you that the water is slightly warm, do not deviate from this rule. This is the optimal temperature for a small child, which gives the desired effect, and the heart does not receive additional stress.
As a container in which the legs will be steamed, it is better to take a bucket, not a basin. Thus, both the foot and the ankle will warm up. Before use, rinse the container with water and soda, then put a linen towel on the bottom. It creates a light massage effect, as a result, the legs warm up well. Pour water into a container and add two to three tablespoons of mustard, stir and place your feet in it.
After two or three minutes after the start of soaring, add more hot water. Remember the temperature! It should be no higher than 40 degrees. Steaming lasts 5-10 minutes, at this time you can lightly massage the baby's legs. Such baths can be taken no more than three times a day!
After vaping, be sure to rinse and rinse your feet with clean water, dry them off and put on natural cotton socks. How to bathe a baby, see. Then put the baby under the covers. To keep the baby warm, it is better to take a bath before bedtime. In addition, such a procedure soothes and relaxes, which also contributes to a full and sound sleep.
Foot baths with other additives
Keep in mind that mustard burns and stings. Therefore, not every child is able to calmly endure this ten-minute procedure. At this time, distract the baby, tell a story and play. If the child is crying and acting up, try mustard-free baths.
An ordinary bath with warm water helps effectively. It clears the nose, relieves a runny nose and eliminates cough, helps in the initial stages of a cold and is absolutely safe for children. Place the legs for 5-10 minutes in hot water heated to 38-40 degrees.
If the child does not have allergies, add herbs to the water. You can brew chamomile or string. These herbs rarely cause allergies, help with skin irritations and diaper rash. Take 100-150 grams of dry grass, pour a liter of cold water and put on fire. After boiling, cook for another 15 minutes and leave to brew for half an hour. Then add the decoction to the water and take a bath for 5-10 minutes.
