Foot Remedies

[Engineer61]

So, Scout went on a back pack camp last weekend...came back with both feet pretty chewed up a variety of hot spots/blisters/broken blisters and a bit of AF.

 

Of course, he still hasn't caught on to the concept that if your feet get wet, you have to get them dry as soon as possible...in spite of repeated instructions to do so.

 

Resisting the urge to use Mercurochrome as a consequence lesson on keeping one's feet dry... I used Bactine on the open skin areas, watched the hot spots and unopened blisters and some Lotrimin AF on the AF areas.

 

Problem areas are almost gone...

 

Any other remedies?

[Basementdweller]

Wool socks......or wicking socks....Proper fitting boots. He needs to learn his body.....When he gets a hot spot or starts to feel one, he needs to stop and use mole skin on it.

 

My recipe for backpacking foot comfort is......Winter time, Goretex asolo boots with two wool socks....one silk weight and other heavy.......Summer I wear a merril mesh with a silk weight sock with toes in it with a light weight wool over it... A full day of back packing takes a change of socks and I carry walmarts brand of crocs for camp to air my feet out.

[frank10]

Best tip I can offer for AF isn't for the feet... When getting dressed, put on your socks before you put on your underwear. Keeps the AF on the feet and away from other body parts.

[Lisabob]

Experience is one of the best remedies. Next time, he'll probably pay better attention to his feet. Maybe he'll even want to teach the newer scouts about moleskin and other good tips for having happy feet. We all know the boys are more likely to listen to each other about this stuff, than to us.

 

Did he have fun, aside from having sore feet?

 

 

[qwazse]

I know it's small consolation, but there seems to be no amount of telling beforehand. Venturing daughter on her first hike decided to not put socks becuase 1) we were rushed and 2) we were only hiking a mile into camp. Next morning: lessons in mole skin application before 6 more miles on the trail.

 

Silly me for thinking I didn't need to check footgear on 14 year olds.

 

As far as aftercare at home: evening soaks in epsom salts. Keep clean and dry before bed time. In the morning put guaze over any blisters that haven't popped. I generally prefer powder for AF.

[Stosh]

Duct tape the potentially problem areas. Heel and balls of foot. The sock rubs on the tape, not the skin. Double socks and good shoes. Haven't had a blister or foot problems for 20 years. That includes a 2 week trek at Philmont! One boys listened to my advice before we left on the trek and he and I were the only two that did not get blisters.

 

Your mileage may vary,

 

Stosh

[Engineer61]

I'm not holding a lot of hope for "learning the lesson the hard way" so far it's happened 4 out of 5 campouts + the one year of summer camp he's been on. The light might turn on in a couple of years.

 

I completely forgot about moleskin...I could never use it because the adhesive would cause a rash ... have to get some and throw it in his backpack ...

 

Don't know the answer to the "fun" question ... but I'll assume so...

[scoutfreakdad]

 

An old navy corpsmans perspective on foot care,

The three things that cause skin breakdown are PRESSURE, FRICTION, and MACERATION.

 

PRESSURE- try to eliminate any pressure points by using boots that fit right and are broken in, if you start to get a problem at one point you can disperse the pressure to the surrounding area by cutting doughnuts around the area with moleskin, where the inner circle goes just around the hot area, and the outer circle is wide enough to spread it out, generally about an -1inch depending on location. I used to use 2-3 layers of moleskin to offload pressure.

 

FRICTION- The action of one surface or object rubbing against another such as Loose fitting or slipping shoes. Mole skin (or I guess even duct tape) in the areas you expect to get a blister before it happens, such as hot spots, and areas you had problems with in these boots before. And after injury friction protection is still imperative.

 

MACERATION- Softening by soaking in a liquid. Some examples are when your hands go white in the kitchen sink or your feet get white when youre swimming. Keep them feet dry, in the military we had wool sox, I like to use the nice hiking sox now, there are even sox with wicking technology. Change sox when your feet sweat. We used to change sox ways through a march (8-15miles) sometimes more, during the break I spent my time moving, checking feet and encouraging sock changes. Foot powder can help dry the feet, and reduce friction. Drying the feet also helps with fungus. Fungus is an opportunistic infection, It doesnt violate healthy skin, chronic moisture weakens the skin and allows the fungus in. so keep those feet dry. Dry camp shoes and sox at the end of the day are good to help this. We are headed to Northern Tier where we will have wet feet all day. The BSA is real tight on what kind of foot ware I can use in camp. I cant use my 5 finger barefoot shoes, no crocks, no sandals, no Keens side vented sandal shoes, man it seems like all they will accept is my dads old blue canvas pull-ons. I want something really open but they want really closed.