Originally Posted by AussieDebbie

Just a question that's been on my mind since joining these forums.

I notice a lot of you use a method of pain relief of placing feet in icy cold water. It makes sense that cold will numb the pain, I understand that part. What I don't quite get is how you can stand the cold itself?

Where I live it's a tropical climate, so my feet are not supposed to feel cold. Yet, even in the middle of summer this year I often felt as though my feet were going to snap from frostbite any moment. I wrap them in blankets and it does nothing. The only relief from the cold is to wrap them in a wheat pillow, the type you heat up in the microwave. Even with that, it's not 100%. And, the rest of my body can be sweating in the heat. It's total shinanigans!!

During those times (which is almost nightly), I cannot imagine dunking my feet in cold water. I couldn't bare the though, never mind to try it.

Am I the only one? Is it mind over matter and once I dunk them in the cold water things will improve, beyond what my instinct to warm them is telling me?

Right now it's the middle of the day, I'm sitting at my computer with my feet curled up in my lap, covered in a throw blanky. Yet the rest of me is hot, it's a humid day here.