An Instagram post claiming Vicks VapoRub to be a quick fix salve that treats cold and flu overnight.
The viral post claims, ‘Cough keeping You up at night? Rub Vicks VapoRub on your feet and put on socks. The cough will stop permanently.’
Source: Instagram
Similar claim can be seen here and here.
Can it be used on feet to stop coughing permanently? Let’s find out.
FactO Check
Vapor rub is popular ointments have been around us for years and typically contain menthol, camphor, and eucalyptus oils.
These ingredients are known to have cooling and relieving effects.
According to Medical News Today, ‘Vicks VapoRub is a popular product for helping with the symptoms of a cold. Applying Vicks to the throat and chest can help with symptoms such as a blocked nose. Applying Vicks to the feet, however, is unlikely to have any effect.’
There is little research into how well Vicks actually treats cold symptoms, they added.
Moving forward, we found research mentioned on Healthline which clearly refuted the claim.
As per Healthline, ‘Vicks VapoRub will likely not work to help ease cold symptoms when used on the feet.’
It also says that the effect of Vick VapoRub on cold is also seems to be unclear.
Limited research shows that Vicks VapoRub may help with cold symptoms. When applied to the chest and throat, it may help ease cold symptoms like nose and sinus congestion, they added.
Healthline also warns about some side effects of Vicks VapoRub. The research states eucalyptus oil, to cause an allergic reaction. Vicks VapoRub on the skin might cause contact dermatitis they say.
Moreover, it can also cause skin rash, redness, or irritation triggered by a chemical.
Source: Healthline
Lastly, VeryWell Health also confirms, ‘There’s no scientific proof that putting Vicks VapoRub on your feet at night will help ease a cough. However, some people use Vicks on their feet to treat foot fungus, relieve foot pain, and smooth cracked heels. There is more support for some of these off-label uses.’
Conclusion
Vicks VapoRub has nothing to no effect on cough when applied on feet. We also found that the effect of Vicks VapoRub on cold is also limited. Viral claim stands false.
