According to a new study, the inexpensive paper tape that ultramarathoners apply on their feet gets fewer blisters on those areas that the untapped areas.
From football players to a woman who just got a new pair of dress shoes, blisters are our common denominator, the bane for every runner but not anymore.
“Blisters have been found to be the most common reason to adversely affect performance in ultramarathons, because temporary duty restrictions in about 20 percent of active duty military personnel with them, and I’ve even had a runner wind up in the intensive care unit with severe sepsis and almost lose his leg from a blister,” said Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Dr. Grant S. Lipman from Stanford University, CA.
The study consisted on tapping the areas of the feet that were more prone to get a blister while doing an outdoor sport on 128 runners in a 155 mile of seven days ultramarathon. Runners with no history of blisters got the tape placed on random areas of the feet.
A single layer of paper tape was applied to the runners before the race and at later stages of the ultramarathon, where 98 runners had no blisters formed on the taped area while 81 got blisters on the untapped areas.
Paper tape is all you need
Paper tape is easy to find and it’s just 69 cents a roll that might last up a couple of years. As well as preventing blisters, it doesn’t get too sticky so, in case you got a blister after doing whatever you were doing, the paper tape won’t tear apart along with the blister.
The theory is that the paper tape is very thin and smooth, and because of that it decreases the friction and rubbing, protecting the sensitive areas underneath the tape. So after 30 to 40 years of studies on how to prevent blisters seems the solution to them or at least the only way to prevent them at all is the paper tape – the solution was in front of us the whole time.
Source: US News Health