CHAPTER 1: PREVENTION STRATEGIES WORKSHEET

Transcription

1 WORKSHEETS

2 CHAPTER 1: PREVENTION STRATEGIES WORKSHEET 1: TOUGHENING YOUR SKIN Are you training in a way that maximises the beneficial adaptive changes that occur to the skin? If not, what could you change? How are you going to deal with a callus, if you get one? 2: SHOES Are you happy with how your shoes fit? If not, make a change now! The earlier you start training in the shoes you plan to wear, the better! After reading the article (or watching the video: to discover the evidence behind finding the right shoe for you, what did you learn? It pays to think ahead. What are you going to do if your foot volume increases half way through your race and your shoes are too tight? 3: SOCKS Have you settled on the socks you'll be wearing for your next event? Do you know what their fibre content is? Do they have any cotton in them? Are they moisture-wicking? If you've never used double-socks, try this, just for fun. Go find a lady's stocking (if you don't own any stocking, perhaps someone in your house will let you borrow one). If not, get a sheer (shiny) thin sock. Put it on one foot. Then put your normal socks on, like you normally would, and your shoes. Walk around the house. Maybe even jog down the hall. Do you notice anything different between the doublesock foot compared to the normal socks.

3 4: BLISTER PRONE Watch this video: What do you learn? 5: CUSHIONING After taking a closer look at your insoles, is there anything you need to do about them? Or are they fine? Perhaps you've had a toe blister before? What cushioning material could you get that could help prevent that blister from forming again? Exactly how does this material prevent blisters? 6: TAPING AND BIOMECHANICS Grab your tape out of your blister kit. Have a good look at it; have a good feel. How do you think it stops blisters? Does it stretch (good for conforming around curves) or is it rigid (good for spreading shear load over a wider area)? Is it thick (good for cushioning and longevity) or is it thin (good for not taking up too much room in your shoes)? Does it feel smooth/shiny (good for reducing friction levels) or textured/rough (good for traction)? 7: FRICTION AND LUBRICANTS Go grab some Vaseline (or any other lubricant you might have). And an old pair of socks. This is going to get a bit messy! Pick an area of your foot where you don't want to get blisters. Actually, let's pick under the ball of your foot. Spread Vaseline over that area. If you like, on the other foot, put some under your big toe, between your toes or at the back of your heel. How does it feel? Put your socks and shoes on and walk around the house. Maybe even run up and down the hall a few times. Notice the slipperiness? Leave it on for a few hours (or all day if this mimics your race). See how long it lasts. See how your skin responds to it.

4 8: ENGO PATCHES Think about the Vaseline activity you did the other day. Q: Where did the rubbing occur? A: Between your sock and your foot. Now look at how ENGO Patches work. If you've got one, put it on your insole under the ball of your foot. Q: Where does the rubbing occur? A: Between your sock and your shoe. Why is this difference a good thing? Watch this video: What do you learn? 9: FAST BLISTER HEALING From what you've learned so far, what is your preferred option for reducing friction to prevent blisters? Would that change if you already had a blister with a dressing over it? My question is, what is your preferred option for reducing friction to treat blisters? 10: SKIN DRYING TECHNIQUES AND MACERATION No activity 11: GAITERS No activity

5 12: EXPERIMENT Now you know what shear feels like, you're going to test some prevention strategies you've learned about to compare how well they reduce shear. Go get your blister kit and cut off some tape. Cut a big piece off and put it on the back of your left hand (we're imagining this is your foot, remember). Repeat the above exercise and see how much it reduces shear. Do you notice some shear still happening to the skin on the back of your hand (is your skin still being stretched)? This is why some people still get blisters in spite of taping their feet. Test a few different tapes: Fixomull, Rocktape, KinesioTex tape, Elastikon, Leukoplast rigid sports tape (that brown one they strap ankles with), or whatever tape you've got. Do some tapes reduce skin shear more than others? Take the tape off. Now test something else. How about a lubricant - Vaseline, BodyGlide, Hydropel, whatever you've got. Do they work any better at reducing shear? They do for me - there's a lot less skin shear. Now add a sock to the equation (because when we use a lubricant, we smear it on the foot and then put our sock on). Does that reduce shear? It does for me - a little? You could even try a damp sock. You should notice that shear increases, compared to a bone-dry sock - because moisture increases friction levels. Now test tape and a damp sock - this more closely mimics a real life situation. What do you notice? Have you got an ENGO Patch on you. Hold it so it's covering the tip of your right index finger (because these patches are applied to your shoe, not your foot). Keep the tape and sock on. Does this reduce the amount of skin shear you feel in the back of your hand? You can test all sorts of blister prevention strategies (including combinations of strategies) like this. Give it a go - it's a great exercise to see how different blister prevention strategies reduce shear stress to different degrees. What did you learn from this activity? Feel free to me and let me know. Any questions? I'll be happy to answer them. In the next chapter, I m going to get you thinking about how these strategies will work for your blister prone areas. Any thoughts at this stage?

6 CHAPTER 2: BLISTERS BY LOCATION WORKSHEET 13: HEEL BLISTERS 1) Blisters at the back of your heel 2) Blisters at the back of your heel complicated by a Haglund s deformity 3) Blisters under your heel 4) Edge blisters of the heel Do you expect to be troubled with any of these heel blisters? Which strategy (or combination of strategies) will you use, going into your event? What if the unexpected happens and you start to feel a hot-spot developing where you ve never had one before. Which strategy (or combination of strategies) are you going to have up your sleeve to combat this, so you can remain blister-free? 14: ARCH BLISTERS Do you expect to be troubled with arch blisters? Which strategy (or combination of strategies) will you use, going into your event? What if the unexpected happens and you start to feel a hot-spot developing where you ve never had one before. Which strategy (or combination of strategies) are you going to have up your sleeve to combat this, so you can remain blister-free?

7 15: TOE BLISTERS 1) Under your big toe 2) On the outside of your little toe 3) On the tops of your toes 4) Between your toes 5) On the tips of your toes or under your toenails Do you expect to be troubled with any of these toe blisters? Which strategy (or combination of strategies) will you use, going into your event? What if the unexpected happens and you start to feel a hot-spot developing where you ve never had one before. Which strategy (or combination of strategies) are you going to have up your sleeve to combat this, so you can remain blister-free? 16: BALL OF THE FOOT BLISTERS Do you expect to be troubled with blisters at any particular area under the ball of your foot? Which strategy (or combination of strategies) will you use, going into your event? What if the unexpected happens and you start to feel a hot-spot developing where you ve never had one before. Which strategy (or combination of strategies) are you going to have up your sleeve to combat this, so you can remain blister-free?

8 CHAPTER 3: BLISTER TREATMENT WORKSHEET 17: HOT-SPOTS You're in the middle of your event and you're miles from any medical help. You feel a bit of a niggle at the back of your heel. What are you going to do? Remember, if you plan to apply anything to your foot or shoe (tape, ENGO patch, lubricant) you need to be carrying it. Will you be carrying your blister kit on you? What if that niggle is on the outside of your little toe? Or between the toes? 18: HYDROCOLLOID DRESSINGS Take a look at your own blister kit. Do you have a hydrocolloid in it? Go to the pharmacy and ask about the types of hydrocolloid dressings you can buy. What brands, sizes and thicknesses are available? Get one or two. 19: HOW TO TREAT A BLISTER Imagine you had a blister on the back of your heel. Let's say the blister roof is torn. What kind of antiseptic do you have in your blister kit to disinfect it? What dressing are you going to put over it? How could you reduce pressure from it? How could you reduce friction (ie: make it more slippery)? What would you do differently if your blister was deroofed? Pick another blister location, somewhere you've had a blister before. What kind of antiseptic, dressing, pressure-reduction strategy and friction-reduction strategy are you going to employ?

9 20: POPPING BLISTERS AND BLOOD BLISTERS Are you confident in lancing a blister like I did in the video? Are you going to use a scalpel blade, like me? If so, how are you going to get one? If not a scalpel blade, what are you going to use instead? Can you ensure it is free of germs and contaminants? If you've got a copy of The Blister Prone Athletes Guide To Preventing Foot Blisters, read chapter 2 to find out how to reduce pressure and friction from the edge blister in the video. 21: BLISTER KIT CONTENTS Take a look at your own blister kit. What antiseptic do you have? What are you going to treat hotspots with, hoping they don't progress to blisters? What dressings do you have to use on: o Blisters with an intact blister roof? o Blisters with a torn blister roof? o Deroofed blisters Is there anything you would like to add to your blister kit - anything that would give you greater capabilities when it came to treating any sort of foot blister? Are you going to have a separate "on the move" blister kit? o What will be in it? o How will you carry it?

10 22: CASE STUDY Think back to your last foot blister (or the one you dread getting in the future) Picture yourself choosing the right dressing Picture the way you're going to reduce pressure and friction from it 23: ASSISTED-SELF MANAGEMENT What do you think of the concept of assisted self-management? Considering what you've learned so far, as a competitor: What do you see as the pros - for you as a competitor? What do you see as the cons - for you as a competitor? Take a moment to think about the provision of foot care from your event director's point of view: the expense, the difficulty in attracting skilled volunteers, the logistical arrangements, the sustainability of it. If you were an event director, how would you tackle the issue of foot care?