How to reduce inflammation with vinegar

Use white vinegar to treat some of the body's ailments.

Avoid spending extra money on over-the-counter remedies to treat inflammation. Instead, reach into your kitchen pantry for a quick fix. Treating sunburns and sprains with white or apple cider vinegar can help reduce inflammation and swelling. It's said that vinegar works nearly three times as fast as ice does when treating some injuries. Diluting the vinegar with water and applying it to the skin when the pain sinks in can help speed up the healing process.

Things You'll Need

• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• Bowl or dish
• Clean cloth

Instructions

1. Mix 1/2 cup of vinegar with 1/2 cup of cold water in a bowl or dish. You can use white or apple cider vinegar.

2. Dip a clean cloth into the mixture and wring out any excess liquid.

3. Place the wet cloth on the part of the skin that's inflamed. Keep reapplying it in intervals of 15 minutes.

Tips & Warnings

• Soaking in warm bath water mixed with 2 cups of apple cider vinegar for 15 minutes will help relieve large sunburned areas on your skin.

• If you have extensive trauma or bruising you should seek immediate medical advice before applying the vinegar. If there are cuts and/or grazes in the area they will sting when in contact with the vinegar so apply some vaseline over them to prevent irritation.

References

• Doctor's Senior Exercise: Vinegar And It's Uses
• Home Remedy Reference Center: Sunburn Remedies
• Home Remedy Central: Apple Cider Vinegar
• Botanical.com; Healing Solutions for Burns and Sunburns; Andrea Candee; 2004

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish