I know a number of runners and athletes who struggle with loss of the fat pad under their heels. It’s a fairly common problem as we age. Some people have more of a problem with this than others. Several weeks ago I received an email from John Marnell. He wanted to share what worked for him. John is 73 years old and has run for 40 years. He’s done many marathons plus a period of ten years when he did ultras. He says, “I feel fortunate to still be sort of running.” Here’s John story about his …
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Cutting Your Calluses
When I saw this video, I knew I had to share it with all of you. You probably know how much I dislike calluses on runner’s feet. You can easily blister under a callus, however draining the fluid can be painful and sometimes is impossible. Most people have some degree of callus somewhere on their feet. Often it’s on the heels and forefoot. The use of a callus file is the most common way of reducing your calluses. Not this guy though. The man in the video is shown cutting the hardened …
Results of Tape Survey
I recently asked two questions in an online survey. Very simple questions. What is your favorite tape for pre-taping for blister prevention? What is your favorite tape for blister patching? There were 57 responses. Let’s start with the first question. What is your favorite tape for pre-taping for blister prevention? The tapes ranked highest were, Leukotape P and KT Tape kinesiology tape both at 19.3%. However if you add all the kinesiology tapes mentioned, it’s a different outcome. With …
An Advanced Course about Maceration
Several weeks before Western States last year I wrote a blog post about conditions on the course and how feet were going to be wet. The title was Running a Wet 100-Mile Trail Run. I talked about what would happen to runners' feet, and steps I would take to manage my feet if I were running. Based on the feet we saw on the course, the majority of runners did not read the post and if they did, they ignored the advice. In a normal year at Michigan Bluff, we treat 40-60 runners for blisters on the …
Another Horrific Blister Story
Last July I wrote a blog post about The Year’s Best Blister Horror Story. I told how Marin Cilic was unable to continue in his championship tennis match at Wimbledon against Roger Federer—because of a blister that formed under a callus on the ball of his left foot. Before you decided to skip reading this post because it’s about a tennis player, please know there is an important lesson here for any athlete. Fast forward to a couple of days ago, to the Australian Open where Roger Federer is …