Dr. Nicole Cain demonstrates "magic socks," a hydrotherapy technique using frozen wet cotton socks covered with wool. The method alternates vasodilation and vasoconstriction to draw immune cells to your extremities, then flush inflammatory cells through your lymph system. Use it nightly when sick or a few times weekly before flying.
Questions this video answers
Ankle-length cotton socks (wet and frozen), covered with wool socks.
Wet and wring out a pair of ankle cotton socks, lay them flat in the freezer; take a hot shower to warm feet; dry off and put on the frozen cotton socks; cover with wool socks and go to bed.
A couple times a week (example: before a plane trip).
Every single night.
Do not use if you cannot feel your feet due to peripheral neuropathy.
Chapters
Hey, are you looking for some hydrotherapy for your immune system? I'm gonna tell you all about magic socks, which is basically the same thing as cold, wet socks, but that's not very good branding. I am in the car here, and Paul is driving, and I saw that I had a question on my Facebook about why the heck would anybody put a frozen pair of socks on their feet? And so before I tell you why, I'm gonna tell you how. So the first step is to get a pair of ankle cotton socks and get them wet, wring them out, and then lie them flat in the free. Meanwhile, go and take a nice hot shower, get those tootsies toasty warm, and then when you get out, dry off, and then pull those frozen socks onto your feet. If you need to say some curse words, go ahead and let them rip. My love expression is king. And then you're gonna cover the cold, frozen cotton socks that are now onto your feet with wool socks. Go to bed. They'll be warm and dry in the morning. So the question is, is why the heck would I do something like this? For the people that I know who live in the Midwest, this may make more sense than the Arizonans and California. Californians that I work with. But bear with me. When you go outside and it's really cold, have you ever noticed that your nose gets really red? The reason for this is because the body does something called vasodilation, which is where it makes the blood vessels nice and big, and it sends all this blood to your nose so that the nose can stay warm and not fall off. And then eventually the body gives up. And it's like, well, we're gonna lose that appendage. We're gonna send it all to the heart. So eventually that red nose tip thing will go away. But the same phenomenon happens in your. The feet are getting incredibly cold. The body vasodilates. It sends all of this blood down to your feet. But as it's doing that, it's sending it through your lymphatic system, it's sending it through your spleen. It's sending all these antioxidants, all these immune system cells, white blood cells, down to that area. It's shunting it all to the tips of your toes, and then it's pulling it back. It's pulling back the cells that are in the extremities that are inflammatory. It's pulling back cells that are filled with maybe viruses or bacteria that we can send through the immune system. So it creates a flushing action. Kind of imagine like taking a sponge and putting it under the sink with the water running and just squeezing the sponge. This is sort of what you're creating using magic socks hydrotherapy. And so my recommendation to my patients is usually if somebody is trying to prevent jet lag or getting sick, do this a couple times a week before you get on the plane, or, you know, a couple times a week, just as general prevention. And if you actually get sick, I would do these puppies every single night, and they work incredibly well. There are some contraindications to cold, wet magic socks is if you can't feel your feet due to peripheral neuropathy, your body's not going to be able to tell you if it's too cold. But generally speaking, most people are healthy enough where you're going to warm those socks up pretty quickly. When I do it, my feet feel really cold for 10 to 15 seconds, and then it just turns into a swamp. And that's why you have the wool socks over it. And so that's the joy of magic socks. It works incredibly well. Talk to your doctor first. Trying any new protocols. But to learn more about the awesomeness that hydrotherapy has to offer, check back frequently and often. My website's www.Dr.nicolecane.com. and now Paul and I are gonna go get a coffee to start our day. Love you guys. Bye.
