How To Prevent Blisters – Every Walkers Should Know
Last Updated on August 18, 2020
How To Prevent Blisters: Every walker and runner are known to blisters. This is the common complaint of them; blister effects on feet and toes. You may face this problem if you start running or switch shoes or start doing longer workouts. It is a fluid-filled sac that is caused by heat and friction; people dread them. But there are so many ways to prevent foot blisters.
You can prevent blisters by rubbing your shoes, toughen, and protect your skin. These can be avoided by keeping feet cool and dry. From many ways to prevent foot blisters, here we are giving some ideas. These are most helpful to prevent blisters.
Find the Right Shoes
Shoes are the primary source of blisters in often cases. When your shoes get rubbed by your toes, feet, heels or even the sole of your shoe makes friction against the shoe. These causes blister on your feet. There are various sizes of shoes for different foot sizes. If your footwear is smaller or tighter than your foot, you may get blisters. To prevent this problem, you must have to choose the right size for your shoe.
The perfect size can solve the blister problem mostly. When you take a new pair for walking or running that may get rubbed in different places of your feet than your previous shoes. Every new shoe may cause blisters for the first few days.
You have to choose your new shoe for their size. Never select that type that fits tightly. Before buying a new pair, first, ensure that there is enough space between your toe and the shoe at the front side.
This decision can reduce the possibility of getting blisters mostly. You can use sloppy fit shoes too. If you face the problem after wearing sloppy fit shoes, you can use thicker socks. This will take most of the extra space.
Prevent Blisters by Toughening Feet
You may have oft and pink feet, but you can face blister problems on those too. If you go more for the workout, your feet build up calluses. These calluses are the natural pad against the friction that causes blisters.
Don’t use pumice or shave off your feet until after your long walk or run. You can use tannic acid to prevent blisters. People who take part in a marathon or use to walk for a long distance wants to toughen their feet using 10 percent tannic acid or let their feet soaked in tea as tea contains tannins.
You can apply tannic acid on your feet or strong tea twice daily. Do not continue this longer than two or three weeks. You can moisture away your heel crack to prevent blisters too.
This will keep your calluses from drying out much. To avoid developing painful cracks, you can moisturize your feet after a bath or shower each time using a good foot cream.
Wear Right Socks to Prevent Blisters
Many people use cotton socks with shoes. But most of them don’t know that cotton socks cause blisters. It retains foot sweat. This softens your skin and leaves it more prone which breaks with friction and produces blisters.
Instead of cotton socks, you can use synthetic socks to prevent blisters. Synthetic socks are made using acrylic, polypropylene that wicks moisture away from your feet to keep it dry.
You can easily buy this sock from any sports store. You can use double layer socks to prevent blisters too. These socks reduce friction and wick away moisture.
Even you can buy no-blister guaranteed double layer socks. Or you can buy two pairs of socks which are a common tactic of hikers. The inner layer of this sock is of sweat-wicking fabric.
If you have thick shoes, then you may have less space or no room in the shoe for toes. In this case, you have to buy bigger size shoes or thin socks. Ensure the correct fit of your shoes and the right thickness of your socks.
Thus you can prevent blisters even you are in a longer workout. If your socks get soaked due to rain, change those quickly as you can.
Lubricate Your Feet To Prevent Blisters
Rubbing motion between your foot, shoe and sock creates heat and tearing forces that makes skin prone to blisters. If you can reduce this friction, you will be able to prevent blisters.
Applying lubricant on your feet is a way to reduce friction. Don’t worry. Petroleum jelly or Vaseline is a good but cheap lubricant. This is recommended for marathon runners and walkers. But there is a problem of using this.
You may face the challenge when you go to wash your socks. AD ointment is another solution for lubricating your feet. You will find this easily in baby diaper shops, and it is cheap. Body glide, Run Goo, Sports Slick, Sports Shield, etc. are also used to lubricating feet. You can find these in sports shops.
Keep Your Feet Dry To Prevent Blisters
Keeping your feet dry is another easy solution to prevent blisters. You can sprinkle plain cornstarch into your shoes and socks. This will keep your feet dry. You have to reapply once if you are in a long distance event.
You can use baby powder or talcum powder instead of plain cornstarch. Talcum powder or baby powder smells nice and keep your feet dry.
Applying particular heavy-duty antiperspirant on feet is also an excellent way to prevent blisters. This is proven in a military study. From a lot of reasons for getting blistered, dehydration is also a reason.
You have to drink water for the first hour of a run. After drinking water, you have to drink electrolytes (salt). These will keep your body fluids and balanced.
Covering the Problem Spots on Feet
If you have a spot on your foot that is prone to blistering, then you can hide that spot to prevent blisters. You can use sports tape, moleskin, gel bandages or individual patches to protect blisters.
There is a small problem with this problem. The pad or tape you used to cover the spot area may not stay where you’ve put with the movement of your feet.
Final Words
In the daily life of running or walking, blister causes a severe problem; reduces the speed of your walk or run. Prevention is the best solution for blisters. Without these solutions, you can carry a blister kit with you. Shoes and socks are the primary causes of blisters.
If your sock gets damp, change that as soon as possible. You may find a lot of solutions to prevent blisters, but these ways which are given here are the easiest solution.
Always try to follow these ways. You won’t get blistered anymore if you follow these steps carefully. Don’t allow blisters to grow up and don’t stop your run.
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