I got blisters

[taterman]

Hey all,



I have blisters forming under my second toe on both feet. Blisters are recurrent and tend to be blood blisters. So far I have been draining them but not remiving dead skin. I've read other posts and imagine I'll hear that this is due to not bending my knees enough but I'm also wondering if it may be due to callous formation or just plain "new feet" syndrome. I'm only running about 2 miles/day barefoot. If the blisters get bad I run in VFF's until I can get barefoot again. All barefooting is done on concrete so far. I've also noticed that the blisters are much worse if I run on hot pavement.

I have pictures but can't figure out how to post them into the message, so if someone can tell me how to incorporate them into a post I will do so.

 

[FreeYourToes]

How long have you been

How long have you been running barefoot? If you are relatively new then its just that your feet are not yet used to running bf yet (some say that blisters are an indicator of too much too soon). When I got blisters I would wait overnight and drain them the next morning and cut back mileage or put on my vff until it went away. I didnt want to risk tearing the skin off and leaving it exposed and painful.



Bisters= heat+moisture+friction. Even just 2 (in your case hot pavement+friction) will cause blisters. Maybe try running during the morning or evening when the ground will be cooler

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Good advice, Free.Lift,

Good advice, Free.

Lift, lift, lift, and relax. Yes, bending the knees will help with the lifting too.

To add pictures, place them somewhere like www.PhotoBucket.com and then right-click > copy > paste back over here. Also, there's a thread about posing pictures in the Site Help forum that might have more info for you.

 

[dunetraveller]

Hmmm.. not so sure I would be

Hmmm.. not so sure I would be opening those blood blisters. They contain serum and that is a fertile medium for infection. Basically the same advice given for burn blisters.. don't pop or drain them.

Blood blisters are more of a trauma, or sudden pressure.

Sounds more like you are landing hard on the front of your toes, but not hard enough over time to cause them to pop from running. You could bend more at the knees and try to land ball of foot, then heel, and then toes last, which is what I have done recently since it seems more comfortable to me, and makes me think more about keeping my feet on a flatter plane as I run.

Before I was doing BoF, then toes and was coming in at a steeper angle, then the heel would contact much later in the sequence. A recipe for recent tendon problems.

I know it is uncomfortable to feel a blister, but I would let the body heal on its own and reabsorb the serum back in and maybe later let the road do the job of removing the dead skin. Doesn't look pretty, but gets the job done more naturally IMO.



Heal quickly, and happy running!

John T.

 

[Neil_D]

Hi Taterman,Sounds like you

Hi Taterman,

Sounds like you have to work on your form. It's not easy and it can take months. It's not really to do with how tough your feet are more that you are probably landing wrongly and pushing off rather than pulling.

It took me a year to get it right and I don't have that problem now. I found running in wet conditions hard, if your form isn't right you will know it if it is wet. Today I ran 7km in pouring rain without a problem.

The bent knees are the key and also consciously reminding yourself to pull your feet up as soon as they make contact with the ground, the timing will come but.... it takes time.

Neil

 

[Jonny00GT]

Blisters on the toes=pushing

Blisters on the toes=pushing off or gripping instead of lifting, usually.

If you lance the edge and roll towards the hole to drain and seal it up with some Nuskin or other liquid bandage, I think you'd be fine. That's what I've done in the past and it's worked great with no infections and I usually don't even feel it by the next day. Don't trim any skin unless it's hanging off or looks like it could become a pocket for collecting road dirt while you run.

Ken Bob's 1-2-3 landing and the wise TJ's words helped me a ton! Start with floppy ankles, raise your toes enough to keep them from hitting first as you come down for a landing, matching ground speed, land ball of the foot first, then toes and heal or heal and toes, just make sure the heal is light...a kiss of the ground, then lift the foot back up. It feels to me like I'm somewhere between "pogo-stick" legs with the springy arch, achillies and calf doing their job in unison and flat footed. It should be hard for people watching you to tell if your toes or your heal touch first. If you're having a hard time getting your toes not to grip, put more bend in your knee or lower your butt in your stance...whichever makes more sense to you.

The most important key is relax, listen to your feet and have fun!

-Jonny

 

[LavaRunner]

I am going to vote for

I am going to vote for overstriding and the shearing force of the pads behind the toes is breaking blood vessles.

Shorten your stride and slow down. See if that helps and focus on lifting youyr feet not pushing off.

There is a lot to think about and like golf, you get worse when you think about it so first shorten your stride by increasing your cadence. go buy a cheap metronome and set it to 190 and run. go slow. once you have trun enough that your cadence is right at 180 - 200 then start concentrating on pulling your feet and not pushing off.

Blisters form BF running from
[*]Overstride - shearing/breaking forces abusing the skin behind the toes[*]Pushing off - Ball of feet, often the ball of the big toe get blisters[*]Twisting - happens when you twest your foot while the weight is on it. Can cause blisters and tearing on the balls or outside edges of the midfoot
At least this is my experience.

Blood blisters are trauma so I vote #1

 

[taterman]

Update: So here's what I

Update:



So here's what I think I've learned.



1. Don't run on hot pavement. I've been told it toughens up your feet faster, but I guess I'll prefer the slow route.



2. Don't run with shoes right after running barefoot. I'm one of those "transitioners" that runs barefoot and shod. I believe that the stresses of running in shoes amplifies any mild irritations from the barefoot run. By separating the two runs I have noticed much less of a tendancy to blister.



3. Rest is not a bad thing if I have blisters.



I had a chance to run with Barefootangiebee and she didn't seem to think I was overstriding. I do try to lift my knees but also try to remain relaxed (too much lifting knees takes the "relaxed" out of the stride). It's been over a month since my original post and I remain blister free. I'm starting to transition from all concrete to some "rough" asphalt (bike trails) in order to thicken the soles, so far no problems there. Eventually I would like to be able to do trails barefoot.



Thanks for the tips all.



Nate