another perspective on feet

[Susan Long]

These are my learnings about feet, shoes and blisters from the camino.
Some of it is repetive, but I hope it is helpful.

We started walking about 5 months before. We were both in reasonable
shape but were not walkers (I swim and bike, mostly). Also we wanted to
make sure we had worn our packs fully loaded so that there would be no
surprises on the Camino.

As it turns out, we did not walk as much as we intended. we were hoping
for several walks of 11 miles with our packs, but we probably only did
up to several walks of 6 miles with our packs. But that was enough to
make sure that we had no problems with our packs. But it is definitely
good to practice with the packs, to make sure they sit on your hips
correctly, to get your back and shoulders  used to it, to make sure your
shoes give you enough support for the extra weight, etc. We had gone to
REI to get them fitted and that was very helpful. As it turned out, we
had no problems with our packs or our backs during the walk.

We used walking sticks (two). We are sure that helped a LOT with our
knees and hips. We had no problems with our knees and hips and I have
had problems before on hikes. By far most of the pilgrims use walking
sticks.

We also made sure to do a lot of walking in our boots. I probably walked
almost 100 miles in the boots before we left. I had no major problems
during the training, but as it turned out. I remember I did have a
problem with my little toe, but since we did not do long walks two days
in a row, the little toe always had time to get back to  normal before
the next walk. On the Camino, it just kept getting worse and worse with
the daily long walks. So I should have been aware that that small
problem would develop into a big problem on the camino. It is very
different doing a long walk once or twice a week and doing long walks
every day. I probably should have gotten different boots. As it turned
out, after about 4 days of walking, I could hardly walk because the
little toe was so sore - the way the boot fit it just squashed that toe
over time. So be aware!

The other thing I found out was that many, maybe more than half, of the
pilgrims wore sandals and socks to walk the camino instead of boots. I
had brought Chaco sandals intending to use them in the evening but when
I decided I couldn't wear my boots anymore I tried walking the camino
with those, and it worked out just fine! They are very substantial
sandals with a vibram sole, You don't have ankle support, and dirt and
pebbles can get under your socks more easily, but on the other hand,
there is much less surface rubbing on your feet. So if I ever do it
again, I think I will use Chaco sandals instead of regular hiking boots.

As far as blisters, we were flatlanders, and we did develop blisters and
callouses on the flat walks and we thought we would be fine on the
camino because our feet had gotten tough. But there are steep uphills
and downhills and they stress whole different parts of your foot. So we
got blisters in places we hadn't gotten before. The only people we met
who didn't have problems with blisters were these wiry european guys who
belong to hiking clubs and go hiking in the mountains every weekend. For
them, the camino was a walk in the park. For everybody else (tenderfeet
in comparison) we all had blisters. The things they tell you in the
books - make sure you stop and address hot spots immediately before they
turn into blisters, change your socks at least once during the day, use
vaseline on your feet to cut down friction, tape areas that you think
might be problems beforehand - these are all true. We were not
conscientious enough. I have a fairly high threshold of pain, believe it
or not, and something had to be well on the way to a blister before I
would really notice it. It would have been better if I had been more
conscientious about taking inventory. You can put duct tape or regular
athletic tape on areas that might develop into blisters, or areas that
are starting to get "hot" - it will prevent the blister from forming. I
did make a practice of changing my socks at mid day, and I think that
helped a lot. (If the socks are damp or dirty they will tend to create
blisters.) We got blisters: between the toes, on the balls of the feet,
on the bottom of the heel, on the sides of the heel. on the side of the
big toes. So you might consider preventative maintenance in those
locations. The other thing that we didn't start doing until almost too
late was using vaseline on our feet. (We also bought this horribly
expensive salve on the camino called "unguento do peregrino" which is
vaseline with some other ingredients that make it smell and feel really
nice, but basically the same as vaseline.) It really does help with
friction. I highly recocommend doing that. Put it all over your feet,
especially where blisters might form (like between the toes). And grease
up again when you change your socks during the day.

Also regarding blisters, we had read in the books that the best thing to
do was drain the blister with a needle and then wrap it up, and we were
nervous about doing that (it might hurt! We were afraid of needles!).
Well, after we got the bad blisters we watched the Red Cross treating
blisters, and that's what they did, so we got our own stuff from a
farmacia. A syringe, Compeed bandages and other types of bandaids, and
Betadine. You can use the syringe (or needle) to drain the blister (just
puncture the bubble, it doesn't hurt at all, and press the fluid out),
and then you can inject Betadine into the space, wrap it up lightly, and
let it mellow out overnight. The betadine will prevent infection and
help it get started drying out and healing faster. This procedure worked
really well for us. Then put a compeed bandage on it in the morning and
let that stay on until it falls off several days later. It turned out to
be a very entertaining way of passing time in the evenings, as well!

The other folklore is that people swear that going slow and taking lots
of breaks helps prevents blisters. I tended to walk fast and try to get
where I was going as quickly as possible. But others who dawdled more
had less problems with blisters. So take that for what it's worth.

Sorry for the long note, but obviously this is a subject I care a lot
about! I hope this helps!



Susan Long
slongyahayahoo.com