["The Journal of Physiology, EarlyView. ", "\nAbstract figure legend Schematic illustration of microneurography recordings used to examine the effects of local skin heating on cutaneous mechanoreceptor responses in the human foot (left panel). A microelectrode inserted into a peripheral nerve records single‐unit activity from tactile afferent fibres while controlled mechanical stimuli are applied to the plantar skin. Recordings distinguish fast‐adapting type (FA) dynamic receptors, which respond to movement of the stimulus, and slowly adapting type (SA) static receptors, which encode sustained skin deformation. Receptor firing rate is calculated from single‐unit nerve recording during an applied force. Firing rates are compared under baseline (black) and heated (red) conditions. Local heating alters the firing behaviour of both receptor types during mechanical stimulation, indicating that skin temperature modulates the encoding of tactile information by peripheral mechanoreceptors.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAbstract\nCutaneous mechanoreceptor input from the foot sole is critical for balance and gait, yet ageing and disease can compromise skin sensitivity, increasing risks for falls and related injuries. Heating improves perceptual sensitivity, but its direct effects on afferent firing remain unknown. This study examined how topical heating alters Aβ afferent responses to mechanical loads that closely emulate walking. Single tibial nerve afferents were recorded using microneurography and classified as fast‐adapting (FA) or slowly adapting (SA), type I or II. Ramp‐and‐hold compressions, normalized to regional stance pressure distributions, were applied over receptive fields using a 1 cm2 probe before and after heating. Dynamic (ramp) and static (hold) firing rates were compared between temperatures. Thirty‐seven afferents (11 SAI, 13 SAII, 9 FAI, 4 FAII) were tested. Heating increased skin temperature by 9.5± 2.4°C (P < 0.001) and significantly elevated SAI (P = 0.001) and SAII (P < 0.001) static firing, as well as SAI (P = 0.03), SAII (P = 0.028) and FAI dynamic firing (P < 0.001). These findings provide the first direct physiological evidence that heating enhances cutaneous mechanoreceptor activity, offering mechanistic basis for previously observed improvements in perceptual sensitivity. By using gait‐like compressions this work also demonstrates that the augmented encoding persists under functionally relevant conditions. Together these findings reveal that heating amplifies static and dynamic mechanoreceptor responses in ways essential to postural control, supporting heat‐based stimulation as a practical, non‐invasive strategy for improving plantar feedback and reducing fall risk.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKey points\n\nThe sole of the foot contains touch receptors that provide critical information for balance and walking, which decline with age and disease, increasing fall risk. Heating can improve touch perception, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear.\nSingle nerve fibre activity from the foot sole was recorded in healthy young adults while applying natural, walking‐like loads before and after skin heating.\nHeating increased nerve activity in three classes of touch receptors, enhancing sensitivity during application of pressure (dynamic) and steady pressure (static). Static activity relays standing balance input, whereas dynamic activity relays gait and slip feedback.\nNotably in dynamic receptors increases in heat‐related nerve activity were more prevalent when loads were applied at faster rates.\nFor the first time this work shows how heating differentially affects touch receptor classes and provides a physiological basis for using heat to support balance in future clinical studies.\n\n\n"]