☘️Cracked heel is mentioned as padadari( pada – foot, dari – cracked) in ayurveda although it is a harmless problem but if neglected can become painful.
☘️It starts as cosmetic problem but when cracks become deep it even bleed and become extremely painful.
☘️It is a Vata imbalance problem because Vata imbalance leads to dryness in the skin, when the dryness increases excessively, the skin on the soles becomes hard and cracked because it is already dry due to less sweat glands and It cracks easily
Causes
* Walking bare foot on rough surface.
* Standing for long on hard surface.
* Not keeping foot clean.
* Due to hard water and use strong detergent products.
* Excess of vatic food( dry, cold,light to digest food ) , bitter, astringent and pungent taste ( like mustard,karela, pulses etc).
* Excess of tea, coffee, cold drinks and alcohol.
*Cigarette smoking.
* Not sleeping till late night.
* By using uncomfortable footwear.
* Cold and dry atmosphere.
* Rainy and winter season ( aggravated vata).
* Sometimes due to thyroid, obesity, diabetes etc.
* Stress, anxiety, grief etc.
Some people are more prone to cracked heels due to their body type ( vata prakriti) or due to their profession ( gardener,cleaner etc) and women are more prone then men.
Treatment
*Vata pacifying treatment is followed to cure cracked heels which includes following
1.Oiling – application of medicated oil or ghee
2. Sweating- by putting feet in warm warm or washing with warm water.
3. Lepa – application of herbal cream
* Vata pacifying diet and lifestyle follow
* Include ghee,lassi,more vegetables and fruits
* Avoid points mentioned under causes.
☘️Some remedies
✅Dead skin should be removed by putting feet in warm water and rock salt or by rubbing lemon.
✅After cleaning foot properly, following can apply at night to get good results.
* Apply plain castor oil or mix it with sesame oil.
* Ghee plain or with pinch of turmeric can be applied.
*Apply Honey.
* Apply Beeswax.
*Beewax with sesame oil, camphor and turmeric.
*Apply alovera gel and turmeric.
*Apply neem leaves paste, turmeric and coconut oil.
* Ayurvedic pinda oil, jatyadi oil, kailash jeevan or shatdhautghrit can be applied .
👉To prevent cracks do regular padabhyag or foot massage and apply Oil in naval.
Read everything-about-padabhyang-foot-massage
👉If the problem of cracked heels persists throughout the year and is not cured by any external use then one should consult an ayurvedic doctor as it is a sign of aggravated vata which can lead to many other serious health problems if not balanced in time.