Ancient Chinese Secret, Ahem..Rural Secret

As most of you know, I work with the geriatric population in a rural town. The thing about living in a rural town....it is surrounded by other teeny, tiny rural towns which do not even have a post office. (That is my litmus test on how big your town is and if it even qualifies as a "town"). Growing up in Nashville, I had heard of Cookeville but none of it's subsidiaries such as.....Monterey, Pall Mall, Double Springs, Algood, Crab Orchard, Rickman, Allons, Monroe, Gainesboro, etc. Let me guess, none of these cities ring a bell. To give you an idea of how rural some of these surrounding areas are....one of the patients I have right now is in her 80's and still does not have running water. She carries buckets of water from the well to wash, cook and bathe. WOW!! OK, back to my point. Working with this type of population in this area brings on a lot of advice. Mostly "wife's tales". I discount most of them simply because of the danger which may or may not be implicated by performing said ritual...i.e. giving a toddler whiskey, something with bat wings, or eyes of newt.
Recently, one of my patients overheard me (like that is hard to do with my loud mouth) talking about my little one's cough. I was complaining how it was keeping him up at night and how can one heal if one cannot sleep. She explained an easy way to stop the coughing without shoving a bunch of medicine down his throat. Simply coat his feet with a thin layer of Vick's Vapor Rub and put socks on him. Easy enough, I thought. Even if it does not work, it is harmless. IT WORKED! I thought it was mere happenstance until the next night I did not do it and he coughed like crazy. The night after that I used it and no coughing. Today when I put him down for a nap he started coughing immediately. I performed my pedal foot massage with vapor rub...the coughing ceased and sleep ensued. SWEET CHICKEN!
I had to try it with and without on multiple, consecutive nights. That is the uber scientist coming out in me....sorry. However, based on my non-biased test subject, single blind study with few variables...I am giving it..........................I really think it works. Coughing did not ensue until around 4 or 5 in the morning which meant a decent rest for Marshall and ME!
Just a note, I did read in my Parents magazine today that Vick's Vapor Rub should not be used on children under 2. Please keep that in mind before using