My muscles have been very achy lately and the internet tells me to do bath soaks with Epsom salts. I understand that warm water helps to relax muscles, but how does salt in the bath help? Do our bodies actually absorb Epsom salt through the skin to a degree that it actually makes a difference, or is it more a relaxing/scent/placebo? What mechanism is happening that the Epsom salts contribute to?
Similar vein: baking soda, magnesium, etc added to baths – do they actually help? What works best?
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This is just my own, non-formally educated scientific opinion, but I think there’s a rational explanation for why studies done on Epsom Salt baths are so conflicted: the people who see results from Epsom Salt baths are accidentally introducing bathwater into their rectums, and absorbing magnesium through their rectal lining.
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