Athletes' Foot: Causes, Natural Remedies & Prevention
What is athlete's foot?
Athletes' foot, with its technical name Tinea Pedis, results from a chronic low-grade infection caused by fungal overgrowth (Trichophyton rubrum and Trichophyton interdigitale). Most people typically get a lot of athlete's feet, whether from direct transmission or from allowing the opportunity to manifest from socks, shoes, and unhygienic practices. Around 3-15% of the world's population has it active at one time, and it may be more common in males than females due to more sweaty feet. It also occurs in adolescents and adults more than in children.
How do you get athletes feet?
The fungal species gain access through your skin via cracks or wounds or infect your top layer of skin.
This was one of my most embarrassing health issues before I restored my optimal self and health. One of my friends commented: “what is that cheesy smell? It is coming from your feet!” My feet would be very sweaty from wearing trainers and socks all day and every day.
Athletes' feet can be contagious and transmitted from direct contact, so be careful with whom you play footsy or share shoes or socks. It typically occurs in humid and water-based areas such as locker rooms, shower cubicles, and swimming pools. If a family member has it - it is highly probable it would spread to others in the household.
Those with a preexisting health condition such as diabetes have an increased risk associated with athlete foot infections. (1, 2, 3, 4)
The most common fungal overgrowth infection of tinea pedis is seen between the toes (interdigital) and on the soles, heels, and sides of the foot (plantar).
There are three primary clinical forms of athlete's foot:
Interdigital, hyperkeratotic, vesiculobullous. Most diagnoses do not indeed require a culture sample. The typical treatment your conventional doctor offers is antifungal creams applied directly. Antifungals are also prescribed orally in extreme cases where there is internal fungal colonization or infection. This prescription usually lasts six weeks. (2)
Once you have acquired an athlete's foot, it can quickly spread to other body areas, such as nails, and be a perpetual cycle of reinfection. (3) The infection usually begins with odor, itching, change in the skin color with dryness, and then moves on to redness.
Why is Athletes’ foot more of a problem now?
Our modern lifestyle practices do not embrace evolutionary principles, with contemporary men and women forced to wear foot-destroying shoewear, which impairs the capacity to ground and for your feet to spread, and use is neuromuscular capacity. Your feet become a prisoner. This promotes more moisture with increased heat and sweat. This likely causes your socks to get damp and provides the perfect gateway and environment for starting something. This creates the ideal environment for athletes where their feet never see the sun or get fresh air.
In addition, the dead build-up of dead skin cells and the increased production of Keratin, which builds up if you don't walk barefoot to chisel off naturally, is the food the fungi thrive on.
Who is more vulnerable to athlete foot issues?
Diabetics / Insulin resistance
Allergies/eczema
Those with sweaty feet
Immuno-suppressed
poor circulation
Sports activities like running or swimming
Job occupations that use heavy-duty boots.
Left untouched or not combating the infection, it can spread and lead to complications, but the symptoms are more related to the smell when taking off your shoes. It can quickly vacate a room full of people. The infection can spread and likely become resistant to topical antifungal medications. Modern methods and common sense would limit the use of toxin-inducing antibiotics - which are usually not needed in most cases. Instead, they use natural antimicrobials or remedies to combat athletes' feet in the beginner stages.
Prevention Strategies for athletes foot
Dry feet after swimming, showering, or giving birth
Wear light shoes and make your feet breathe
Alternate between shoes (if active infection)
Wash your socks frequently on high.
Take your shoes off as much as possible.
Use flip-flops when in the swimming pool or communal shows
Avoid sharing towels and shoes or socks (4)
Using grounding sandals (improves local redox) HERE
Do you need antibiotics or are home remedies just as effective?
Home remedies will get laughed at by your standard conventional clinician, who usually knows what's in a pharmacy and has forgotten ancient healing remedies we once used.
Natural remedies to treat athletes foot
Strategies to get rid of athletes' foot (fungal overgrowth)
Apply coconut oil or MCT oil to your feet 2 times daily.
Tea tree oil used 1 - 3 drops alongside the oil above.
Use cotton socks or, ideally, sandals that allow your feet to breathe
Stick your naked feet in the sun for UVB exposure, which kills all pathogens and improves skin health.
Soak your feet in a footbath with magnesium (Epsom salt or chloride), then add borax powder.
Sprinkle a small amount of borax on socks and shoes.
Wash your socks and shoes at a high temperature to kill pathogens and stick them in the sun.
Grounding. Improve the redox charge
Use grounding sandals - wider shoes or toe spacers
Dr Bronner's Peppermint soap.
While the evidence for the above strategies is on a different level than pharmaceuticals, they work effectively. You can stack them together, which would have no concerns. Some of these ingredients, such as beeswax, MCT oil, and peppermint, have been added to top antibiotics to make them more effective. (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
In conclusion
If you have suffered from athlete's foot with no success, and after exploring the shared strategies, further considerations could be at play - such as circulation, redox, gut microbiome, and immune and hormonal effects. Work with me one-on-one as your health mentor and consultant to resolve the underlying imbalances and guide you to optimal health.
References:
1. Nigam PK, Saleh D. Tinea Pedis [Internet]. PubMed. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29262247/
2. Leung AK, Barankin B, Lam JM, Leong KF, Hon KL. Tinea pedis: an updated review. Drugs in Context [Internet]. 2023 [cited 2023 Aug 4];12:2023–51. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37415917/
3. Bell-Syer SE, Khan SM, Torgerson DJ. Oral treatments for fungal infections of the skin of the foot. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2012 Oct 17;
4. Crawford F. Athlete’s foot. BMJ clinical evidence [Internet]. 2009 Jul 20 [cited 2023 Mar 5];2009:1712. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21696646/
5. Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG). Athlete’s foot: Overview [Internet]. Nih.gov. Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG); 2006. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279549/
6. Ogbolu DO, Oni AA, Daini OA, Oloko AP. In vitro antimicrobial properties of coconut oil on Candida species in Ibadan, Nigeria. Journal of Medicinal Food [Internet]. 2007 Jun 1 [cited 2020 Dec 8];10(2):384–7. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17651080/
7. DailyMed - TERRASIL ATHLETES FOOT ANTIFUNGAL TREATMENT MAX- clotrimazole ointment [Internet]. dailymed.nlm.nih.gov. [cited 2024 Mar 8]. Available from: https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=fce478a0-05f5-4606-82ce-c8dd095df211
8. Tong MM, Altman PM, Barnetson RStC. TEA TREE OIL IN THE TREATMENT OF TINEA PEDIS. Australasian Journal of Dermatology. 1992 Dec;33(3):145–9.
9. Nematollahi AR, Badiee P, Nournia E. The Efficacy of Ultraviolet Irradiation on Trichophyton Species Isolated From Nails. Jundishapur Journal of Microbiology. 2015 Jun 27;8(6).
10. Schmidt M. Boric Acid Inhibition of Trichophyton rubrum Growth and Conidia Formation. Biological Trace Element Research [Internet]. 2017 Dec 1 [cited 2024 Mar 8];180(2):349–54. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28391495/
11. Ramsey ML. Athlete’s Foot: Clinical Update. The Physician and Sportsmedicine. 1989 Oct;17(10):78–93.