I don't believe this!!!

[Bill Proms]

Bill Proms here with an early update. I have blisters once again!
Virtually out of nowhere. Since my last post, my stamina has been
increasing pretty well and my speed reached the 5 mi/hr walking rate.

Last weekend, I had to cut short my walking due to a long distance funeral,
so I had missed 4 days in a row walking. I started back up on Tuesday of
this week, but....

After Tuesday's 5 mile walk, I noticed some slight pain in my right side and
my joints have been sort of achy since then and the walks since. Not that
bad, but the dull aching in the legs sort of reminds me that the shoes have
become too worn.

Then, after Wednesday's walk, I noticed blister formation on the right foot.
The location is at the middle right side of the foot. I had been using
Body Glide over all these blister prone areas since my last blister problem
from several months back and hadn't had any further blistering until Wed.

Yesterday's walk though turned out to be a big mistake. I even cut it short
because I could feel the pain of the blister and it is silver dollar sized
and open with the skin layer peeled back, exposing the red under layer. And
it hurts! I am saline cleaning the area, applying neosporin, and covering
like the last time. This is all on the right foot. The left also developed
similar pain, but thankfully that one's not open and doesn't hurt today.

What in the world happened? I've been doing so well and now sudden
blistering! My speed hasn't been excessive as I've been walking between
4.6- 5 mph for 5 or 6 miles, 5 days a week. I've been using Body Glide and
nylon runner's socks. Could my worn shoes be causing all of this? I didn't
think they were that worn yet as I've only had this pair for 6-8 weeks, but
I do see wear on the bottom, and the insert even shows wear around where I
developed the blister.

Well, I'll be off of the feet for a few days, that's for sure. Time to
bring out the bicycle once again. I'm disappointed that I have to deal with
these blisters once again. I went for about 6 weeks where I didn't have any
problems.

If anyone's interested, I can post some pictures of the shoes, insert, and
my foot.

Appreciate any advice because I'm sort of mystified.

Thanks,
Bill Proms

[John Hurley]

Bill:

# If anyone's interested, I can post some pictures of the shoes,
insert, and my foot.

No photos required thanks.

Blistering is a symptom of you becoming more athletic and working
harder. Work thru it and do what makes sense to eliminate friction.

Good luck!

[Tim Downie]

I somehow doubt that your shoes are trashed already. Socks could be an
issue as they can wear out pretty quickly. Not that it bothers my feel how
worn my socks are but your skin does seem to be on the "delicate" side.
Have you tried twin-skin socks? You probably have, but if not, worth giving
them a whirl.

One other thing, if you're really pushing on at 5 mph, maybe it's just your
body telling you that you ought to be jogging! 5 mph = 12 minute miles, a
pace that many new joggers would be happy with. As your speed increases,
your method of locomotion should change, from walk to jog to run to sprint.
I would say that while race walkers *can* go bloody fast, it sure as heck
isn't a normal physiological way of locomotion and that normally, folk would
transition to gentle jogging at between 4 & 5 miles an hour, maybe even
slower. By sticking to walking you may be putting unnatural stresses
through your feet (and the skin of your feet).

Apologies if you're previously listed good reason why you're *not* running
but given all your problems with your feet whilst walking so fast, it's
surely got to be worth a try?

Tim

[pithydoug]

I think he was walking because of excess weight. He wanted to get rid
of some excess before abusing is joints with running.

Bill, I don't know how long you are walking, nor the conditions, but
one variable that is often overlooked as a cause of blisters is
dehydration and or low salt.

"" It maybe that for many of us, we
have now been trained to drink enough water, but not to monitor our
electrolyte level and take enough salts. If salt levels are low, it
doesn't
matter how much we drink, we are still dehydrated. It turns out that
when
sodium levels in the blood fall below a certain level, water from the
blood
plasma will be transferred into tissues external to the circulatory
system,
causing feet to swell. Those swollen tissues are less able to support
the
mechanical abuse of running and walking on them. It is heat that
drives the sweat
rate up, the sodium levels down, and ultimately leads to blister
formation...Stay cool, replace your lost electrolytes and blister and
black
toenails will be greatly reduced or eliminated.""

If your not walking long or excess sweating, please ignore.

-Doug

[Bill Proms]

Thanks, guys. For some reason, I hadn't seen your posts for quite some time
after they were posted.....

Anyway, yes, I have been trying to lose a lot of weight before even
considering running.

The blistering reoccurred after I had been inactive for a 4 day stretch and
then started up again. Up until that point, I hadn't had a problem with
blisters or anything else.

After allowing healing, I taped my feet in the problem areas, then started
up again yesterday. I went about 20% slower with speed and the tape did the
job with no new blisters. However......

Years ago, during fast walking, I injured the top part of my right leg. I
never knew what muscle this was-- or even if it was a muscle-- but it took
about 6 weeks to heal before I could walk well again. Well, this pain
returned after yesterday's moderate walk. The location is hard to describe.
It may be the hip, I don't know, but it's like when I take a step with my
right leg, there is pain when I flex the leg at the top part of the leg/ hip
area. Not toward the groin or outer area, more centralized. I've never
been sure how to address this area with stretching exercises as I don't see
one that specifically addresses this area, but I'm welcome to suggestions.

I took a NSAID today (Aleve) that eliminated the pain, but I can't take
NSAIDs for long term and I don't want to anyway. In the meantime, the
bicycle won't stress the area and I'll have to switch to that until the leg
heals.

Any suggestions as to stretching that would help this leg/ hip area would be
welcome.

Thanks,
Bill


"pithydoug" <dfr...@hvc.rr.com> wrote in message
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