Reply With QuoteMaybe it is just to avoid the possibility of her getting it into her mouth or eyes? Never heard of it myself.
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Explain to me scientifically how rubbing 'Vicks' on feet is actually meant to work??
I've heard it over and over and over again, people SWEAR by it. Jazz has a bit of a cough/cold and I keep hearing "rub 'Vick's into her feet and put socks on, it'll stop her coughing!".
Now, she's not coughing enough for me to be able to say that it works. It could just as easily be that the toy she is playing with is stopping her coughing, if you know what I mean
I'd like to know how this is meant to work? I mean, how does it work better than putting it on their chest? (before you tell me about the dangers of the actual Vicks Vaborub, I use a eucalyptus/lavender mix most of the time, and sometimes the Baby Balsam).
Explain it to me!
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Maybe it is just to avoid the possibility of her getting it into her mouth or eyes? Never heard of it myself.
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I had the impression that it was put on the feet cause chest was too sensitive area for them. And that way you still got it coming up. Don't have anything scientific tho!
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I don't know but both my Mum and MIL told me to do it with the kids. MIL's father always slept with a sachet of camphor at his feet during winter as well and he never got sick through winter. DS2 broke out in a massive rash all over his chest and back after having vicks on for a few days straight last week so I might try the feet trick next time LOL.
ETA - found this on a google search. So it hasn't been scientifically tested and proven, but there is anecdotal evidence.
Description: Folk medicine
Circulating since: March 2007 (email version)
Status: Claims are anecdotal, scientifically unproven
Email example contributed by David C., March 26, 2007:
Comments: Though I can't prove them false, the above claims have neither been scientifically tested nor proven, nor is there a generally accepted medical explanation for how putting Vicks VapoRub on the soles of one's feet could relieve a coughing fit. Some people who have tried it insist the treatment really works, but a smattering of anecdotal reports does not amount to proof.
Subject: For Coughing
Sorry, no graphic for this one, and don't laugh, it works 100% of the time although the scientists at the Canada Research council (who discovered it) aren't sure why.
To stop nighttime coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks Vaporub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks.
Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief.
Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly.
I heard the head of the Canada Research Council describe these findings on the part of their scientists when they were investigating the effectiveness and usage of prescription cough medicines in children as compared to alternative therapies like accupressure. Just happened to tune in A.M. Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do more harm than good due to the chemical makeup of these strong drugs so, I listened.
It was a surprising finding and found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bedtime, in addition to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly.
An adult friend tried it on herself when she had a very deep constant and persistent cough a few weeks ago and it worked 100%! She said that it felt like a warm blanket had enveloped her, coughing stopped in a few minutes and believe me, this was a deep, ( incredibly annoying!) every few seconds uncontrollable cough, and she slept cough-free for hours every night that she used it.
So, if you have grandchildren, pass it on. If you end up sick, try it yourself and you will be absolutely amazed by the effect.
What do you have to lose?
"From the standpoint of traditional medicine," observes pediatrician Vincent Iannelli, MD, "there is no good reason that rubbing Vicks VapoRub on a child's feet should help a cough. In fact, many studies show that over-the-counter cough medicines don't even help when you use them as they are intended.
"Why might it work?" he continues. "It could be that your child can still breathe the vapors, even if you put it on their feet. Or maybe the active ingredient, menthol, acts to dilate the blood vessels in the feet, and this triggers some reflex that quiets the cough. There are other reflexes that cause coughs, like we often see when we clean wax out of children's ears, so it is not unthinkable that there are others."
The principle of 'counter-irritation'
The remedy wouldn't have seemed so strange to doctors a hundred years ago, who often prescribed liniments and poultices containing mild irritants such as mustard, garlic, or camphor to the chest and to the soles of the feet to relieve symptoms of colds and whooping cough. Like Vicks VapoRub -- the active ingredients of which include camphor, eucalyptus, and menthol -- these preparations would have had the effect of stimulating blood flow to the skin. Catalogued under the heading of "counter-irritants" in early twentieth-century medical texts, such treatments were based on the principle that "internal morbid processes may at times be relieved by creating external irritations" (Horatio Charles Wood in Therapeutics: Its Principles and Practice, 1908).
To be sure, there was vigorous debate over how counter-irritants actually worked. "One commonly offered explanation," wrote pharmacologist Horatio Wood at the time, "is that there is only a certain amount of blood in the body, and that if the blood be drawn to one part there must be less in another part. Surely, however, the amount of blood drawn to the skin by a mustard plaster is too small sensibly to affect the general mass in the body. It is more probable that the phenomena of counter-irritation are the result of reflex disturbances of the vaso-motor nerves which influence the size of the blood vessels, or of the trophic nerves which directly affect nutrition."
Last edited by Trillian; May 24th, 2010 at 09:22 AM.
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I started doing it after my aunty told me to put a slice of garlic on my DS's foot with a bandaid to help with a cold...I did this to both his feet anddid he have some wicked garlic breath the next morning so I figured if the garlic got absorbed so would vicks( i use euky bear rub) I do it with DD1 now when she has a cold.
Sorry not scientifc evidence
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No idea. But its a petrochemical based product so I don't use it on their skin. Luckily mine don't get sick that often but even my daughter will make herself a honey and lemon tea if she's feeling a bit throaty... but yeah not had coughing probs in a while.
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Wow I never heard this before. Do you use adult vicks or baby vicks?
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Baby Vicks is also a petrochemical that contains essential oils that should NOT be used on little people as it can affect their hormones.
The feet thing is linked in with the thought that anything on the soles of the feet can be tasted in your mouth. Have you tried garlic on your own feet? You can actually taste it. Same with garlic in the vagina (as a group B strep measure for example).
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I have looked and looked but have no idea why except that the feet are very absorbant.
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I have honestly never heard of the feet thing! Subscribing as I'm curious.
Mum swears by it, and every time the kids or I are sick she insists I do it. I never do LOL.
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I swear by this!! I don't know why it works scientifically, but maybe it has something to do with the heat? When I'm sick, my feet get super cold, and my head is hot and the Vicks heats up my feet. I remember seeing something on TV once about drawing a fever away from your head by rubbing feet to make them warm and it then helps to pull the fever away. So maybe Vicks does the same thing? It draws the sickness away from the head. All I know is when I do it, my feet are ALWAYS lovely, toasty warm!
Corelly x
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Yeah that ....^
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Sorry, a bit OT from your question Leasha but I always pmsl at any mention of Vicks... XP's mum used to make him eat it. With a spoon.
My guess would be that it's absorbed through the feet. I know there are studies that have been done showing how garlic can be absorbed into the bloodstream through the feet.
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Fleur - YUCK!!! Your poor XP!!
Corelly x
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Poor XP? Nah. It probably explains a lot
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My guess is that by warming the feet which are often the part of the body that cools down the fastest you are maintaining a heat balance. People get sick often because the body has to work hard to adjust it's thermostat. Getting cold by itself doesn't make you sick... but getting cold SUDDENLY will put extreme pressure on the bodies resources leaving it vulnerable to attack. This is why having your house really toasty in winter isn't as wise as just keeping the chill off the air. When you step outside out of a hot house and the change is extreme the body has to work too hard to maintain balance. Wearing gloves and thick socks are excellent ways of helping the body deal with temp extremes... I assume the Vicks thing is an extension of that.
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