Happy Feet: Send Your Blisters Running

By: Coach Travis

As a biped (an animal that moves by means of two limbs), inevitably, at one time, you have encountered the sharp, uncontrollable irritation of a friction blister. Here is a collection of tips on how to prevent and treat blisters from thousands of miles of running experience and a varied collection of trusted sources.

Usually caused by an ill fitting shoe or sock that rubs against your soft skin like sand paper instigating the skin to raise in puffy soreness, sometimes small, sometimes large and sometimes filled with fluid. Dedicated runners, walkers and hikers alike, know this pain all too well and though prevention can go a long way, sometimes they creep up on you at the most inopportune time like a child playing a prank trying deliberately to scare you out of your wits.  A new layer of skin forms beneath the blister to provide new, tougher protection, the blister usually heals within 3 to 7 days and the feet usually toughen up after a week or two but what do you do while your blister heals and your feet toughen? And how do you prevent such nasty, inconvenient occurrences?
Like ultra-marathoner, Dean Karnazes advises, “Listen to everyone, follow no one.” Take what you will from this list, add it to your basket of knowledge, and see what works for you and your specific situation.
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Preventing blisters:

• Wear proper fitting footwear. Shoes should fit well and match your biomechanics. Socks should fit well and be comfortable when worn with your running shoe.

• Routinely care for your feet. Make inspecting and caring for your feet routine. Trim any long toe nails, remove callouses and put athletic tape or bandages over sore spots.

• Reduce friction. To reduce friction, put a little petroleum jelly on your skin or shoe where they may rub or wrap a bit of athletic tape or bandage over a sore spot.

• Keep your feet dry. Don’t wear wet shoes (unless unavoidable. You can’t always skip puddles on race day.) Wear socks of synthetic materials, like a poly-cotton blend with double layers that wick moisture away from your skin. Use a foot powder to keep your feet dry.

Treating blisters:

• Keep your blister clean and protected. Twice a day, clean, dry and cover your blister with antibiotic ointment and a fresh bandage. If extra padding is necessary, protect your blister with moleskin. After cleaning and applying ointment, cut a round piece of moleskin that is bigger than the blister and cut a hole in the center. Then put the moleskin on your skin with the hole over the blister. Cover the moleskin with a bandage.

• To pierce or not to pierce. Opening a blister leaves the raw skin painfully open and vulnerable to infection, avoid this whenever possible. However, if the blister is large, uncomfortable, and filled with fluid, with a sterile needle (either sterilized with alcohol or passed through a flame) gently prick the edge of the blister to release built up fluid. Then clean and protect the blister. If a blister breaks open, trim off loose skin.

• Try these healing and protective products. Spenco Second Skin and Dr. Scholl’s Blister Treatment. Apply the product after you have cleaned and applied antibiotic ointment to the wound.

• Let it heal. If your blister becomes infected, you should stop your activities until the infection is gone.

• Contact your doctor if: the blister looks infected, if you continuously get a blister in the same spot, if the blister is very painful or if you have any other questions or concerns.

Blisters & your Vibram’s (VFF’s):I love my VFF’s but when transitioning from regular sneakers to my VFF’s for my runs, I found a few sore spots on my toes caused by friction that hadn’t been a problem in my gym workouts. Many VFF-ers have talked about this online and the suggestions for prevention and treatment match those above. Through my experience, covering the hot spot before it became a blister did the trick. After a couple of days, my toe had toughened and I haven’t had the problem since. Surprisingly, even in cold, wet races, when I expected blisters to form, they haven’t! Some VFF-ers like Injiji socks to decrease friction, some don’t find them comfortable. I haven’t tried them, as I like as few layers between me and the earth as possible. 

Additional Information

• Transitioning to Barefoot / Minimal Footwear
• Barefoot Running Biomechanics- Harvard University
• Vibram, Sole Leader, Partners with New Balance
• How Socks Make The Feet
• Socks And Your Feet
• Match Game- The best socks for every runner --and any condition
• Rules to Live By When Running on a Track 

Resources

• Unknown. (2006). Blisters. Health A-Z.
• Karnazes, D., & Fitzgerald, M. (2009). Secrets i learned running 50 marathons in 50 days--and how you too can achieve super endurance. Wellness Central.
• Lebow, F., Averbuch, G., & , (1998). The new york road runners club complete book of running and fitness. Random House Inc.
• Otis, C. (1990, Nov-Dec). Agony of the feet. Women's Sports and Fitness, 12(8), 17.
• Schmitt, B. D. (2010). Blisters: foot or hand. Clinical Reference Systems, 2010(1), NA.
• Rouzier, P. (2011). Blisters. Relay Clinical Education, 2011(2), NA.