A cheap way to avoid blisters

‘It’s kind of a ridiculously cheap, easy method of blister prevention’

For all the advances in science and technology made in the last century, people often find themselves thwarted by the simplest of problems. There’s still no cure for the common cold, for example. Our conditioner always seems to run out before our shampoo. And we still have no scientifically proven way to avoid blisters. Well, we can cross that last one off the list, at least.

A study published in the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine reports a simple, cheap method for blister prevention — and it’s available in any drugstore.

Grant Lipman is an emergency medicine doctor working with some of the blister-iest feet in the world: those of runners. “What I kept hearing was, ‘Doctor, I’d be doing so well, if only for my feet’,” Lipman said in a press statement. “Their feet were getting decimated. People have been doing studies on blister prevention for 30 or 40 years and never found anything easy that works,” Lipman said. “I wanted to look at this critically.”

So members of his team decided to test one method that patients had mentioned again and again: paper tape. Paper tape, also known as surgical tape, is a mildly sticky adhesive tape used in hospitals to cover wounds. Lipman decided to put the tape to the ultimate test: actual ultramarathons. These extreme footraces are legendary for breaking down runners’ bodies and minds. If paper tape could help runners get through an ultramarathon that would be pretty good evidence in its favour.

Before the event began, researchers recruited 128 runners and by the finish line, 109 participants (that is, 109 feet) remained in the study. On those feet, the researchers found 97 blisters — but only 28 of those were located in taped areas.