Blisters

“I purchased a new pair of hiking shoes about a month ago, and wore them on a hike of 30 miles. By the second day I had a couple of good blisters on my heals. I used the Band-aid brand gel pads, and athletic tape with limited sucess.

What does everyone else use?”

“You wore new hiking boots/shoes on the trail without breaking them in? Are you nuts!?

Duct tape is the way to go. Some people use it with mole skin. I just put the duct tape right over a hot spot before it's a blister. Works great!”

“Ouch, those heal blisters are the worst. I had a pair of boots that did that, it turned out that they were too small once my feet swelled alittle on the trail.
Make sure that you can fit 2 fingers behind your heal when the boots are on.
Mole skin and duct tape work well, but I haven't had any blisters since those boots. Also check your feet the minute that you start feeling a hot spot. If you wait too long your going to pay!”

“What Pixie said.”

“The hiking shoes I wore around the house for a couple of weeks before hitting the trail. They seem to fit well, and I purchased them a size bigger than my shoe size.

Thanks, for the tips”

“what works best for me: the tent patch kit from Dicks sporting store. It includes a silnylon patch, and this patch will last forever on your foot. It will not move if you tape it on dry skin. I also take some gauze and put it on first, so it goes underneath the silnylon for cussion. Hey...I am the blister queen, and this works better then ductape.
last edited: 3/23/05 12:48:52 PM”

“blister cures are like blister causes...innumerable. There is a great book called "Fixing Your Feet" By John VonHoff? Lots of great info.

I have used duct tape unsuccessfully, my feet sweat too much. I have better luck in preventing them then curing them. For blister you need all 3 of these, heat,moisture and friction (not a bad combo sometimes LOL) remove one of the three and you are set, trying to establish which is most readily altered is the trick, good luck!”

“Hey Gemini, Just curious, do you still use the tent patch after it's been on your foot? :-)”

“compeed”

“heeheeeheee....sure if I would need to use it...why not? Duhhh!!! NO!!! You have no idea how good that patch works!! It's my little miracle in case I do get blisters.”

“My blister patch works well for me. If I get one, generally because I am too lazy to fix a hotspot, I do the moleskin thang. But I pop the blister, remove the skin, and in the hole in the moleskin that I cut over the blister I fill it with neosporin pain relief. Then I cover the hole with duct tape. The stuff is amazing, within 2-3 days I have new skin over the blister area. For me this works great. Learned it from an ex Green Beret.
last edited: 3/24/05 1:40:57 AM”

“Salem, I use better shoes! No, only kidding:) I have never hiked far enough to get blisters. My hikes in WA state are sometimes straight uphill, so your travel time is not that long.”

“gem, that is the funniest remedy i've ever heard.
does it really work? how's it feel when it comes time yank it off?”

“...but hey if it worked...

Helinka, it really works and I found out it works better then ductape because I dayhiked once and for some stupid reason forgot my first aid kit, but had the tent patch kit in my pack. lol

it's not too bad when it comes time to yank it off because you have the gauze underneath it. You can even put the neosporin underneath it, but I haven't done that, and I don't know how good the patch will stick then.

anyway, I bought me a roll of the tent fix nylon the other day. Hope it works as well the other stuff I bought at Dicks.”

“I saw a show on the History Channel the other night about the white settlers and their trip across the frontier. They said at that time boots weren't made with left and right foot, just one shape. To form them to their feet they would stand in a creek to soak them to soften the leather and just keep walking them dry.

Most people didn't ride in the wagons either except the old, sick or young and the majority walked along side. So basically they hiked across the nation. I'm sure they had their share of blisters in footwear like that. They didn't say if they wore socks.”