How to Treat Your Injured Feet With Natural Resources

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May 11, 2019 Nick Oetken

Wounds can be nasty, and a leg wound can be extremely painful because your whole weight rests on the leg. Having a wounded foot when away from civilization might be dangerous. This article is filled with step-by-step instructions and guidelines on how to treat a foot wound.

Let’s get started, shall we?

A FOOT WOUND IN THE WILDERNESS

Your feet are very essential for your mobility and balance, and your mobility and balance should not be compromised at all when you are in the woods. If you are in your house, a foot wound may, despite the pain, be considered a mere inconvenience. During camping, it can be disastrous.

A lot of things can go wrong when you go camping in the woods. As a matter of fact, many of these things may not be as a result of your carelessness, but this does not change the fact that foot wounds need ultimate attention. Common occurrences of feet injury include:

• Cuts to the leg while splitting wood needed for fire.
• Cuts or punctures caused by sharp sticks or small tree stumps on the ground of a forest, hurting the sole or the side of a foot or the skin between the toes.
• Burns as a result of stepping on a hot coal or accidentally pouring hot liquid on your feet.
• A broken or injured toe.

All the above and more can happen when in the wilderness, or even anywhere, but while you can rush to the nearest hospital when you are at home, your best option when you are in the wilderness is self-treatment. This is why it is very important you pack a first aid kit when you are going into the woods.

TREATING YOUR INJURED FEET

Here, I will not just be mentioning natural resources that you can use to treat an injured foot when in the woods but also readily-available materials that you can use as first aid treatment and actions that can work in an emergency.

INJURY TREATMENT WITH ACTIONS

Like in any emergency situation, there are dos and don’ts that should be adhered to so as not to endanger yourself more than you already are. These actions are as important as the treatment kit you are carrying. For each injury, there are actions and natural resources that best fit them.

1. Controlling bleeding: when you have a cut and you are bleeding, whether the blood is just a trickle or it is gushing, there are steps you should take.

• Wash off the blood and try to determine the exact area that is bleeding. Carefully rinse your injured foot with soap and clean water.
• Remove any dirt around the wound.
• Apply pressure on the exact area of the wound.

2. PREVENT INFECTION: when you have an injury, it is important to make sure the wound does not get infected because if it does, it can be a death sentence in a survival situation. You know your wound is infected when it first gets swollen and warm and then starts oozing puss when you apply pressure on it. It might be a little bit more difficult to avoid infection in the woods due to the environment where you are, but constant cleaning and covering with a clean piece of cloth will ensure your wound stays infection free. In situations where you have an object in the wound, you will have to ignore the pain and remove the object because this is an important step for preventing infection.

INJURY TREATMENT WITH NATURAL RESOURCES.

1. Your number one resource is water. Yes, water can do amazing work to help your feet, and it can clean and irrigate the wound to help stop bleeding. It is really effective, but make sure you use clean water so as not to further complicate your injury.
2. Look around you, and if you find aloe vera you are definitely in luck! This can be used as an anti-inflammatory and also to reduce pain and swelling.
3. Do you happen to have a turmeric plant close to you? You should be glad. Ground turmeric is a natural antiseptic and antibiotic. Apply it directly to a bleeding wound and immediate clotting will occur.
4. In case all these are far-fetched and unavailable, search your food bag and use onion and honey to make a smooth paste and apply it to the wound. This is known to accelerate healing.
5. The very common coconut oil can also be applied to an open wound to prevent infection and reduce scarring.
6. A little bit of petroleum jelly can do wonders too; applied on a fresh wound, it can help stop bleeding.

CONCLUSION

All these can work effectively like any first aid kit or drug, but remember: prevention is always better than cure. Just apply the above methods and thank me later.