[philmont] Blisters

It's good that this thread on blisters has started up. Care of your feet is
tied with
hydration as one of the most important points to a successful trek

Feet can differ considerably from person to person. One
technique which works for one person may not work as well for another.

You need to have each Scout experiment to find out what works best for him.
This
"finding out" is what shakedown backpacking trips are all about.

As to petroleum jelly working initially but not later, the reason for this
is that petroleum
jelly is a mixture of saturated hydrocarbons which soothe the skin by
replacing oils
which the skin may have lost. As the petroleum jelly is "used up" you don't
have
the protection that you had initially. Solution: at a rest stop put some
more petroleum
jelly on.

As to wet skin blistering more readily than moist skin, this is likely true.
  Wet skin will
not experience friction as the wetness keeps friction down and reduces heat
by evaporation,
both points working to minimise a blister. Moist skin, which I would take
to mean skin which has "sprinkles" of moisture will not prevent friction nor
heat build up as well.

You - must - find a hiking shoe/boot which your feet find comfortable and
you - must - find
sock(s) which keep them comfortable. No single recommendation or approach
will be best
for each person.

Find out what works for you before going on a major challenge like Philmont.

Joe Jansen
JAJansenJr@gmail.com
Philmont 1965; 1978
(who had comfortable boots and socks and still managed a small blister at
Philmont, which I found a
small band aid helped with)

>From: Daniel Preston <prestonar@bellsouth.net>
>Reply-To: philmont@troop47.com
>To: "philmont List Member" <philmont@troop47.com>
>Subject: [philmont] Blisters
>Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 09:14:32 -0500
>
>I am rather old school when it comes to blister prevention. The current
>technology in sock manufacture is for a single sock like Smartwool that
>does it all. However, it seems to me that a single layer sock cannot
>prevent friction between the sock and the foot. However, a snug-fitting
>sock liner with a wool (or mohair) sock allows any friction to occur
>between the liner and the sock rather than between the sock and the foot.
>I have had no luck convincing any of our scouts of this concept but it has
>worked for me for many years.
>
>Dan Preston
>Louisville, KY
>On Jul 20, 2006, at 12:43 AM, James H. Moss wrote:
>
>>Volume 23, Number 3, Summer 2006 of the Wilderness Medicine Newsletter of
>>the Wilderness Medical Society (http://www.wms.org/) had an interesting
>>article on Blisters.  It is an article, not a research paper. I'm just
>>going to hit some of the high points.
>> 
>>1.    Most important thing is to fix it immediately (duh...)
>> 
>>2.    Thin skin is unlikely to blister . Thicker skin blisters more
>>easily.
>> 
>>3.    Dry skin has a lower incidence of blistering. However wet skin has a
>>lower incidence of blistering then moist skin(?)
>> 
>>4.    The article mentions duct tape in the same line as other commercial
>>blister barriers for stopping the friction.
>> 
>>5.    skin adhesives such as tincture of benzoin or mastisol can help keep
>>a barrier in place
>> 
>>6.    Adhesives should only be used when the blister is forming as if the
>>blister has all ready formed the adhesive will tear the top of the blister
>>off creating more problems.
>> 
>>7.    This was the interesting point. Petroleum jelly and drying powders
>>work initially or for short periods of time, but for longer periods (more
>>than 1 hour) that increase the likelihood of blistering.
>> 
>>8.    Antiperspirants containing aluminum chloride hexahydrate work if
>>used over a period of days prior to the long hikes. (Old mountaineering
>>trick was to get prescription antiperspirants and use them to keep your
>>feet dry and warm.)

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Received on Thu Jul 20 11:46:30 2006