By Scottie Bussell, MD, MPH
Having pain in our feet can take the joy out of backpacking, slow you down, and cause you to not complete the trip. Blister prevention begins with three main considerations:
- Comfortable footwear
- Your sock strategy
- Foot conditioning
- Preemptive practices
1. Comfortable Footwear
Good foot care starts with choosing the right shoes for your feet and the terrain conditions. Main considerations are looseness for warmth, traction, ankle band for security (boot doesn’t come off), sufficient sole flexibility for distance hiking but rigid enough for crampons, level of cushion for the sole of your feet, a reinforced toe box for kicking-steps in hard snow, and water resistance verses breathability to keep your feet dry.