Found a good article here: https://www.painscience.com/articles/epsom-salts.php

Thought of this when I read Wellness Mama's strong endorsement of Topical Magnesium. Dr Hyman will be disappointed too, but the baths feel good.

10 signs of magnesium deficiency.
http://wellnessmama.com/54128/signs...ium-deficiency/

I assumed that magnesium bath salts drew fluid OUT of the body by osmosis since the ions and molecules are too large to enter the body, and that is how it reduced inflammation. I had a swollen and red broken toe that got less swollen and less red after being soaked in a super-saturated solution of epsom salt and the pain disappeared. The bone was broken in a zig-zag pattern and I resisted trying the "old wives' tale" epsom salt bath for three weeks before figuring it couldn't hurt, and quickly became a convert.

I feel better after the baths too (Epson salt and baking soda) but for the first time, sprung for the extra $ to buy Magnesium Gylcinate which is the more absorbable type.