Peppermint oil is roughly forty percent menthol, and menthol is the reason this is the most frequently used oil in the entire book. Menthol binds to the cold receptors in your skin and triggers them directly. Your nerves report cold. Nothing has actually cooled — but the sensation is real, and it competes with pain signals travelling the same pathways.
That is why it turns up for burning feet, for toe cramps, for the ache of Achilles tendonitis, for a sprained ankle, for capsulitis, for hammer and mallet toes. Anywhere a foot hurts or burns, peppermint gives fast, temporary relief while whatever is actually wrong is dealt with separately.
It also has real antispasmodic action, which is why it works on cramp rather than merely distracting from it.
