Peter: Hey everybody. Peter, from Shoetopia.
Laura: And I'm Laura, from Align Pedorthics.
Peter: And today, we're going to talk a little bit about blisters. You hate them. We hate them too, but we're going to talk a little bit about how you can prevent them, what may cause them, and all things blisters in this little episode of Feel Good Feet.
Laura: Right. So, basically, a blister is friction happening on an area, and it's basically pulling away the top layer of skin from the second layer, the layers below. So, you get the sheering and that's when you kind of get a bubbling of the skin.
Peter: So, should you pop a blister or not?
Laura: Probably not.
Peter: There you go.
Laura: Ideally, you can just let it dry out, and it will disappear on it's own.
Peter: Right on. So, what might cause blisters?
Laura:So, probably the most common thing that I see, is blistering on the back of the heel. So, sometimes what happens is that your shoe is slipping up and down, causing that rubbing. You might not be getting proper fit here, so the shoe will actually angle in on the heel. If that's cutting you, hitting in the wrong spot, that's going to cause some blistering, or could cause some blistering. And then, just proper shoe fit, overall. You don't want something that's too small, and squeezing in.
Peter: With leather, some of the sandals and things like that, we find sometimes with the toe thongs, they get blisters and sometimes even back here you might get blisters, as well, at the beginning of the season type thing before your feet have calluses on them and what have you. But, I think the main thing there is when you're getting into something like this, sometimes the leather, like this leather is actually pretty soft. But sometimes, the leather is a little bit harder or if it's a man-made product, it's a little bit harder, so it needs to be broken in a little bit. Sometimes we'll even take like a little pair of, a wrench or a little hammer and just kind of tap away at that just to loosen it up a little bit, so that it's not quite to stringent off the top. And it really gives that supple softness and could prevent some blistering right off the bat. Some of the materials, that might be a little harder, if you're really loving the shoe and want to wear it right off the bat.
One of the things we were talking a little bit about before we jumped on air here, was the fact that one of the biggest things with any of the footwear that you buy, is that you actually just break it in before wearing it all day long. Now, because footwear is made on a last, basically, and it's not made to your foot, specifically. So, it needs to be customized and your foot will do that, just with wear. But, if you try and wear it all day long the first day, your chances of getting blistering are a lot higher than if you just break it in an hour or two at a time.
Laura: Yep, exactly. Especially going into sandals. Your feet have been in socks all winter long. They've been nice and cozy, so all of a sudden, they're being rubbed on with different materials, you need to take it slow and break them in.
Peter: Yeah. And I think, probably that's the biggest take away here with blistering is that just take your time to wear the things in. I know it's exciting to get new shoes. I mean, we're excited about it, because that's what we do here at Shoetopia, but at the same time we want to make sure that you can wear them all summer long and you don't just wear them that one day, get some blisters and put them away and say, "Oh, I don't like that shoe." Because you had that bad first experience.
Laura: Right. And don't try to power through it. Some people will get blisters, say on the top of your foot, and then you try to keep wearing them and wearing them, it's going to get worse. So, take a break, let it heal properly and then ease back into it again.
Peter: Exactly. Anything else?
Laura:The other kind of blistering that I will see is with new orthotics. So, sometimes people will comment on a blister forming right in their arch. It's really common with runners, actually. What that basically means is the orthotic isn't flexing enough so the orthotic is actually too hard for what you need, and then that blistering or that friction can happen. So, if that's happening to you, go back and see that person that you bought them from, but you should be able to modify them, because that's not normal.
Peter: Right on. Well, hopefully, this helps. What we're trying to do here at Feel Good Feet, is bring healthy, happy feet to you. You're the owner of them, and we want to make sure that you're happy with your feet and feel good every day. So, hopefully this helps about blisters. Another edition of Feel Good Feet wrapping up. I'm Peter from Shoetopia. You can find us in Fergus and Mt. Forrest or on shoetopia.ca.
Laura:And I'm Laura and I'm at Shift Family Health Centre or you can find me at Alignpedorthics.com.