What's causing this blister?

HobbitFeet

Barefooters
Jun 7, 2011
31
0
6
#1
In my short month and a half of BFR I've solved blisters on my little toes, blisters on the edge of my ball, and blisters between my first and second toe. It's pretty cool seeing the results of my form changing. Well I've got one last issue it seems, and that is a small blister on my big toe. It's near the inside edge, closest to the foot. There also happens to be a pretty good sized callus here that I've had probably forever. The blister appeared the other day after a 5k, and it was under the callus.



Today I went for a run, and I could feel that callus slapping the ground, but couldn't for the life of me find any angle to prevent it. So is there something I'm doing wrong, or is it just a matter of this big thick callus being in the way? I know it's probably hard to tell anything without pictures, but I'm hoping someone has a similar callus and maybe has had similar issue with it.
 
#2
Could you try lifting your

Could you try lifting your toes, curl them up, before landing to see if that resolves it?
 
#3
With all due respect to TJ I

With all due respect to TJ I would recommend against the toe raise and curl. That will bind up the muscles on the top of your foot and could create bigger issues. It sounds like you should try getting rid of the callus. just spend a little time each day rubbing it with a callus pad, cheese grater, ped, egg, sandpaper...just something that will shave small amounts of it at a time. don't go crazy and push to where it's raw but calluses tend to just keep getting bigger so you want them gone. it may not be a form issue at all but you won't know until you can get that thing out of the way.
 
#4
I had a callous on my left

I had a callous on my left big toe, maybe in the same area--on the corner of the toe pad near the joint and nearest the right foot. I'm about 2 months in and only just getting to 5k, but it might have blistered if I did more when it was painful. It's still there actually and was there before BF running but it's not bad now. It got pretty painful for a while about a month into BFing; it felt like a pebble stuck to my toe.

I don't know exactly what helped but things I changed were: shorter stride length/slower run, about 10 min/mile; lifting my toes slightly--I think I remember KenBob saying that in something I read--just enough so they land at the same time as the midfoot pads; and massaging/pushing the callous back in. Pushing it back in hurt at first, but it didn't seem to be dead skin so I didn't want to shave it off. Of course it didn't actually push back in but that seemed to soften it a little.
 
#5
I think that's where I got

I think that's where I got that too, Randi, was from Ken Bob.
 
#6
randi, your description is

randi, your description is pretty dead on, it does feel like there's a stone stuck to it there that is pushing in whenever it contacts the ground.



I feel like I'm already lifting my toes as much as I can, i've been focused on that after reading it in several various places. Jimmy, I agree with you about the muscle tightening, I've noticed that as well, when focusing on lifting my toes I feel like my leg is tight and it's hard to simultaneously relax my foot.



Good to know others have experienced it as well, maybe I'll just keep an eye on it and see how it develops.
 
#7
There does seem to be some

There does seem to be some contradictory information out there, like: relax your foot, but lift your toes; learn to run on gravel by learning to avoid gravel; aim for 180+ steps/minute but go slow; etc.

The toe-lifting is a subtle, very brief action for me, which is part of the concept of lifting and placing the foot, which I may have read somewhere or may just be what works for me. Ideally, the feet should land without any shifting. It seems easier to do when running with shorter stride and with knees bent more. I still have to remind myself of this often during a run when I find I'm nearly straight-legged and some hot spots are developing in the usual places.

KenBob also says everyone is different and you have to find the little particulars that work for you.

Keep trying different things.
 
#8
In my experience, life is

In my experience, life is full of contradictory information. What I have taken from it is it's all about timing.. about coordination. Rapid movment, but not so fast you overstride or push off.. Tense certain muscles in their time, but do not run tense overall as that would defeat efficiency. Problem is of course trying to convey so much information through text knowing the recipient has to have everything they need to sort it out on their own.

I used to train people to do my job. I would tell them straight away that I could at best teach them 25% of what they needed to do the job as well as I could. Mostly because so much is situational, and that situation won't come up during training, or is something that happens once in a year (or years) and I may never remember it until it happens again. I told them this mainly to say don't get mad because something got left out.. you'll just have to figure it out for yourself as you go along as I did.

I like Ken Bob for saying try lots of different things... it encourages people to innovate, because quite frankly they have to. We will never possess all the knowledge, and the ability to properly pass it all on is ridiculously difficult given the medium we have to work through.

Thank heaven we have the people we do to help when we've exhausted ourselves trying to work things out on our own. :)

John T.
 
#9
Hi Randicoot,I remember I

Hi Randicoot,

I remember I had a similar hard spot on the big toe, left foot as I remember. I believe it is caused by a small amount of pushing off rather than pulling. It's not caused by friction but by the force on that small area as you propel yourself forward. So I think it is form related.

Bend your knees much more than you think you should and concentrate on pulling your feet off the ground and I think in time that hard spot will go.

Cheers

Neil
 
#10
Thank heaven we have the

Thank heaven we have the people we do to help when we've exhausted ourselves trying to work things out on our own.

And there's the reason why it's good to have one-on-one instruction, when we can't figure things out for ourselves, even after reading about it over and over.
 
#11
Try making contact with that

Try making contact with that part of your toe just standing still...what does it take? Do you have to put pressure a specific way, lift up on the balls of your feet, etc. Then try running a short distance and see when you're in that position. Barefoot Ken Bob's 1-2-3 landing has helped a lot of people sort out their landing. Balls of the feet, then toes and heal or heal then toes. As long as you're not gripping with your toes (which I've found requires some knee bend) and you're lightly kissing your heal on the ground, you should be able to sort it out.

I personally figured out that I was running with my left foot cocked out and was turning as I passed through my stried, like grinding the ball of your foot into the ground. If you listen to your feet, they'll tell you what you need to know. Run on some wet road stripe if you can find it...you'll feel slips and slides...also good teachers.

Hope that helps! Lot's of good info to try so far. Let us know what you find. May help the next person.

-Jonny
 
#12
I think I've made some

I think I've made some progress in figuring this thing out. I realized by walking around a bit that the only way to make contact with this part of my toe is if my feet are pointed out, rather than straight ahead. This seems to happen when my lower calf muscles are tired and sore, which has been happening lately on my runs.

So I think when I get tired, I relax these muscles, my feet turn out, and also roll in a bit, so instead of first contact being the outside edge of my foot and rolling in, first contact is the middle of my foot with my big toe slapping down and then taking my weight as I roll through the step.

I tested this theory out this morning, paying attention to the direction my foot was pointing and how I was landing. All was good for the first mile, but that last bit I started feeling the pressure on my toes. Sure enough, I was getting tired and my feet were turning out. So I'm hoping that as I build more foot and calf strength this should go away.

thanks everyone for the input!
 
#13
I'm glad you've seemed to

I'm glad you've seemed to figure this out, Hobbit. That's one thing I really like about barefoot running, is the experimentation and finding out what works for you.
 
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