How do I avoid blisters on a long walk?

A blister is a shear injury: the skin layers slide against each other and separate, and fluid fills the gap. Everything that reduces sliding — good fit, dry feet, smooth socks — reduces blisters.

Safety

What you'll need

• Properly fitting boots, broken in
• Wicking socks — wool or synthetic, not cotton
• Blister plasters or zinc oxide tape
• A spare pair of socks

Step by step

1. Get the boot fit right first.Heel lift and a boot that is too short cause most blisters, and no sock or tape fully compensates. Fit is the foundation and everything else is refinement.
2. Break boots in before a long walk.Several shorter walks. It softens the boot and, more importantly, reveals where it rubs while you are still near home.
3. Wear proper walking socks.Wool or synthetic, which move moisture away and pad the pressure points. Cotton socks hold sweat against the skin, which softens it and dramatically increases blistering.
4. Consider a thin liner sock.Two layers slide against each other rather than against your skin. Many people find this alone solves persistent blisters.
5. Tape known problem areas before setting off.Zinc oxide tape or blister plasters on the spots that always rub, applied to clean dry skin at the start. Prevention takes two minutes; treatment costs the rest of the walk.
6. Lace properly to stop the foot sliding.Firm around the ankle to lock the heel, looser over the instep. Retighten after the first half hour, when the boot has settled and the laces have relaxed.
7. Stop at the first hot spot.That warm, slightly sore patch is a blister forming. Stop immediately, dry the area and cover it. Walking on for another twenty minutes turns a two-minute job into a wound.
8. Keep feet dry.Change socks at lunch on a long or wet day. Damp skin is much weaker and blisters far more readily. A spare pair of socks weighs nothing.
9. Trim your toenails.Short and straight across. Long nails press into the boot and the neighbouring toe on descents, causing bruising and blisters between toes.
10. Manage descents deliberately.Long descents drive the foot forward into the toe box. Tighten the laces before a big descent and take shorter steps.
11. Treat a blister properly if you get one.Clean it, and leave it intact if it is small. If it is large and painful, sterilise a needle, pierce at the edge, press the fluid out and leave the skin over it, then cover with a hydrocolloid dressing.
12. Use a doughnut of padding for pressure.Cut a ring of moleskin or foam so the blister sits in the hole rather than being pressed by the dressing.

Tips

• Stop at the hot spot. That is the whole technique, and almost nobody does it.
• Tape known trouble spots before you start, not after they hurt.
• A spare pair of socks changed at lunch prevents more blisters than anything in a first aid kit.

Common mistakes

• Walking on through a hot spot — The separation of the skin layers is already happening. Twenty more minutes turns a warm patch that a piece of tape would fix into an open wound that affects the rest of the trip.
• Wearing cotton socks — Cotton holds sweat against the skin. Wet skin is softer and far more prone to shear damage, so cotton socks measurably increase blistering compared with wool or synthetic.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask