Blisters when Bush Walking

If there's one thing that will ruin your day on the trail, it's the infamous blister!

Blisters are caused by friction, this friction generates heat and this heat initially creates hot spots which if left untreated, pretty soon progress into blisters. The blister itself is a fluid fiulled sack (the fluid is plasma). Blisters occur when things all gets out of whack: your boots could be too stiff so they don't move when your feet move, or your socks ruck up in your boots causing creases which rub. The foot sock and boot should all move as one. Common areas affected by blisters with walkers are the heels (pictured), tops and pads of the toes, and also under the ball of the foot. I would say the heels are the most commonly affected area for walkers.

Seems there as many treatments for blisters as their are hangover cures, so I won't be postulating one all embracing cure-all here; if it works for you, keep on doing it.

Predictably the best treatment is prevention. If you don't get blisters in the first place, you won't need to treat them, so let's have a quick look at what we can do to stop getting blisters in the first place.

1. Break your boots in before you go on your walking trip. I grew up walking in the 70's when walking boots were all made of leather. Out of the box they were as stiff as a board. Try walking in those for five days with a 20kg pack and pretty soon your feet started sporting a nasty assortment of blisters. The trick we learned was to break them in by doing lots of walking in them first: walk around the house, down to the shops, around the park, etc. Softening the boots up was also popular: after walking in your boots the trick was to stuff them full of tissue paper and leave them in a tub of water overnight. Then walk in them again the next day, then repeat. Of course doing the 20 odd river crossings of the Wellington River into Lake Tarli Karng tended to have the same effect! Modern boots aren't all stiff leather (though a boot like the Scarpa SL with a stiff shank certainly needs all this preparation) nevertheless it pays to break all boots in a little. If you don't, you take your chances . . .
2. Take care in choosing your socks for walking. Back in the 70's we really only had one choice: the good old Explorer. Now we are spoiled for choice. Make sure your sock is a firm fit and has good quality elastic. You do not want your socks falling down inside your boots. Should you wear two pairs of socks when walking? Old school thinking said yes, with some advocating a thick / thin combo, I used to wear two thick. Now I wear one thick. In my ski boots I wear one pair of long super thin socks (so I can feel the ski through the boot, it's a skier thing). Whatever your choice, make sure you have your boots properly fitted with the socks or sock combination you intend to wear walking.
3. Pre-tape. If you have been prone to blisters in the past, then it's a good idea to pre-tape using a compund such as Compeed or Spenco which you use to cover your blister prone areas. Personally I always do this on an extended ski tour as my ski boots are stiff and after all the effort prepping for the trip I don't want my trip cut short by blisters (really I don't want my buddies poaching my fresh trax!) . I rarely pre-tape for walking as I use soft boots and they're always well broken-in so I tend not to get blisters when walking.
4. Don't borrow or hire boots. On a walk / ski tour your feet are your most important item. If you get foot problems, chances are that's it, your walk's over. So if there's one bit of kit we should all purchase, it's a good pair of walking boots. Even for skiing if you're going to at all get into the sport, buy your own boots and have your inners specially moulded to your foot. Even the plastic shell moulds to your foot. If you borrow someone else's boots, you're setting your self up for more of these:

5. Look after your feet. As soon as you start to feel a hot spot developing, stop and treat it. Initially this might just require taping up using a gel pad like Compeed, a slippery frictionless tape like Sleek or using a gel based treatment like Spenco (the duck's guts!) If you don't stop and treat it, the hot spot will turn into a full blown blister. So don't worry about slowing your walking party for a tiny hot spot. Down the track you'll hold them up and cause much greater problems if you get full on blisters. So when you're with a group, think of blisters as a group issue not a personal issue. In this sense you owe it to the group to look after your feet and every group member should share this commitment. Also check your feet in your tent each night, look for hot spots, anmd importantly, trim your nails - you don't want them too long as they'll cut into the adjoining toes and give you more grief!

I'll leave treatment for another blog, so stay tuned!

Happy Trails!

HYDRATE OR DIE!

I don't know how many first aid courses I've completed over the years, probably over 20. Whatever, it seems like a lot and a long time since I first practised tying triangular bandages with the school nurse back in high school.

The best first aid courses for the outdoors have always been ones presented in a wilderness context . A useful context if a bit misleading: you could be in a "wilderness context" if you are moored in your yacht on say the Gippsland Lakes and you can't get back to the shore for some reason; or for that matter if you're stuck in a traffic jam. The point being of course that these courses provide you such key skills as:

- improvising first aid materials from stuff you already have with you (do more with less)

- provide you with the knowledge and skills necessary to provide extended patient care (you could be stuck in the bush with your patient for hours, overnight, days, etc). Urban based courses like St Johns and Red Cross as a rule do not present from this perspective and their trainers are generally not from an outdoor guding background.

Anyway ones of the providers of one of these courses I distinctly remember had a motto which featured prominently on their trademark hikers' coffee mugs which they also sold. This motto read:

"Hydrate or Die"

The more courses I completed, the more this motto struck me as making sense. The more you study first aid, the more it becomes apparent how effective adequate hydration is in preventing a plethora of miscellaneous ills & ailments. And nowhere is this more apparent than in summer.

When I worked as a walking guide for 20 years for school Outdoor Education groups, I had a stock list of responses used for a multitude of student presentations / complaints. This is a useful tool to have in your leaders kitbag of tricks.

Students would typically present complaining of a headache. My stock response always revolved upon getting them to "drink more water." Not gulp it, but slowly sip a good litre an hour for the next hour or two or three ...

Of course that wasn't what they wanted to hear. What they really wanted was a Panadol or some similar magic tablet. But what their body needs is to be rehydrated. That pain in your head is telling you something. Yes Johnny pain is your friend.

So with the weather heating up and keen walkers heading out, one of the best things we can do to avoid the onset of heat illness (heat exhaustion and heat stroke or hyperthermia) is to stay hydrated. It's not that hard but it does require a strategy just as avoiding hypothermia requires a strategy.

Here's some hydration tips for walkers:

• start the day with a full tank. Make sure you're properly hydrated before you start walking.
• know the signs & symptoms of dehydration. Key sign: when you are adequately hydrated, your urine should be clear and copious. So go on,have a "pee and see."
• sip water regularly dont gulp water irregularly
  
• make it easy to sip and walk at the same time. Camelbaks and similar hydration packs are popular for a reason and you don't need to wear ear buds and like hip hop to use one either. They enable you to suck water when you're walking (or skiing but then you need to avoid the hydration tube freezing up but let's leave tha tissue till winter approaches). This really makes it easy to stay hydrated. You don't have to stop the group to get out your water bottle; you don't have to worry about catching up to the group; you don't have to ask someone to get your water bottle off your pack for you. You are in control and can drink when you like. And drink you will. It's amazing how quickly you can drain a 2 litrle bladder.
• take enough water to meet your needs without overdoing it. For me this is 3 litres. I carry a 2 litre Camelbak with the hydration tube conveniently located on my shoulder strap. Mine has a valve enabling me to close the water off, a useful feature. I also pack a one litre bottle either inside my pack or secured externally so it can't swing or drop of my pack.
• if leading a group, call rest stops frequently. Allow those in the group without hydration packs the chance to stop and drink. Chances are if they haven't got a Camelbak or similar, they will be not drinking for one or all of the reasons outlined earlier. If you don't let them drink, they will become more dehydrated and you may have problems later in the day.

So there you have it, some handy hints for staying hydrated. "Hydrate or Die" may sound a little over-the-top, a little melodramatic perhaps, but it sure focuses your attention on the issue. We all know the saying "from little things big things grow" and with dehydration this is the nub of the issue. A whole lotta problems can grow from that one little headache ...

So when you're out there walking this summer, drink, drink and be merry!

Happy New Year and Happy Trails

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