There's something in the mud...

There's Something In the Mud...

Last week, for no apparent reason, I developed a painful split on the sole of my foot - I'm thinking it was due to dehydration - anyway, whatever the cause, I needed it to heal up fast as I have important triathlons approaching fast.

I tried various natural remedies as well as the dreaded 'plastic skin' but nothing seemed to help.

Then yesterday I was with friends who decided to go for a dog walking session in the local woods - the ground was covered in all kinds of spiky holly leaves, thorns etc but due to our lovely summer (by that I mean days of torrential rain) there was a lot of mud.

Ok so while I spend a lot of time barefoot and also spend plenty of time in Vivobarefoot shoes and on this occasion I would have definitely opted for some Breatho Trail Shoes thanks to both the potential for punctures and also the painful split in my foot.

But thanks to clearing out my van the day before (remind me to just stay messy) I had taken out all my shoes and arrived for the walk with nothing but my bare soles.

I like to go with the flow and believe in things working out whatever happens so off we went on our hike - the first few steps were pretty painful as that split in my foot screamed at me but after squelching through the deep mud for a while the pain subsided. In fact the overwhelming pleasure of feeling the mud between my toes was amazing - ok so I had to pull a few holly leaves out of my feet which wasn't so nice!

Anyway, the point to my story is that I woke up this morning to find that the hole in my foot had closed up and was no longer painful to stand on!

Coincidence?

Well without analysing the content of the mud I will never know the exact science behind this natural healing event but I'd highly recommend taking your bare feet to a mud bath near you on a regular basis to help keep your feet in tip top condition!

Check out the Cornwall Barefoot Festival at Godolphin House this Sunday August 19th for more barefoot ideas - they have a barefoot trail with plenty of mud too!