If we have blister problems, we have a problem walking anywhere.

The good news is that many, if not most blister problems are preventable, but first - What causes blisters?

The two quickest ways to get a blister are:

1. Walk too fast.
2. Stomp too hard.

Walking too fast creates ‘friction’, and stomping too hard creates ‘percussion’. Friction or percussion are the two main causes of blisters. Both cause trauma to the skin (friction on the surface, and percussion in deeper layers of skin) and neither are good.

Once our feet are conditioned, blisters are much less of, or no longer a problem. However, starting out a training process, or starting a Camino (or any walk) is where self-care is paramount. Many blisters happen in the first 30 minutes of a walk, regardless of how good the shoes or socks are, and once the ‘hotspot’ turns into even a small blister, we can’t go back, and it gets worse and worse until it’s a big problem. (taping, eben taping prophylactically (beforehand) can help, but first - prevention prevention prevention. 

So our recommendation is that during the first 20 - 30 minutes, walk softer and slower than seems necessary. This is also a good way to warm up for the day.

This conversation will get saved on the website, and we can expand as we go. There are some experienced foot experts, medics and walking-guides in this group so if the goal is to have the best foot care training plan, it seems an achievable task.

Please share questions, concerns, tips and what works for you. A wider subject will be shoes and socks, quite a personal topic, as well as foot first-aid, which we’ll come back to in future posts.

We hope this is helpful. Our goal is a blister-free camino and training program for everyone in this group.