Blood Blisters

Danjo

Barefooters
Sep 6, 2010
342
1
18
So I know we all pretty much agree that its best to drain regular blisters, but whats the best way to deal with blood blisters? I'm not really sure how I got one, it just seemed to appear in the middle of my run. I guess I must have just stepped on something, but I can't remember stepping on anything painful.... Anyways, its there somehow, so what should I do with/to it?
 
No sure what blister protocol

No sure what blister protocol is, but the one's I have gotten were all blood blisters. I drained them like a normal blister and they healed and went away just fine.
 
K, well I tried to drain it,

K, well I tried to drain it, but it seems to be either multiple blisters in the same spot, or its just weird, because I can pop it and drain the blood in one place, but then if I poke a hole in another place I get more blood. You think I should just keep poking it until I don't get any more out? I get about the same amount out each time, and nothing more comes out if I push on it, so I figure there must be little seperate pockets or something in it.
 
First of all, you should have

First of all, you should have taken a picture to share. ;-) Before you popped it! Then as you were popping it and after you were all done popping it. That's all I have to say on the subject.
 
Its actually a pretty boring

Its actually a pretty boring blister. I should have taken some pictures of my feet right after my run, it was raining, so they were pretty muddy, and I have a bad habit of kicking myself in the ankles, which leads to tiny cuts that somehow get blood everywhere. So I had mud and blood and little bits of gravel and twigs all over my feet, pretty brutal looking. Of course after I splashed some water on them there was really nothing wrong. Except the stupid blood blister.
 
Actually, my blood blisters

Actually, my blood blisters never drain from one hole. I have to poke two holes opposite each other. I don't know if its because the blood is more viscous than a regular blister and the pressure is different or what, but usually mine kind of explode once I pop the other side. Hmmmm. Never thought I would have such an in depth discussion about this.
 
Danjo, you need to somehow

Danjo, you need to somehow figure out how to run without kicking yourself along the way. But hey, if a little kick in the hiney is what gets you going and keeps you going, who am I to judge?
 
I started doing it when I was

I started doing it when I was in shoes and now it seems to happen everyonce in a while. The weird thing is that it usally hurts really bad, but I didn't even notice doing it this time. The rain might have helped with that somehow though. I'm trying to stop it, and its not like I kick myself with every step, it only happens every once in a while. I actually hadn't done it for a couple weeks, but I guess yesterday just wasn't a good run. I never really "clicked" into my form, I was either landing a little hard, or my feet were slapping, or I was working too hard to pick my feet up. I'm kinda wandering if I should just let my stupid left foot slap a little, cause I can't seem to shut it up without making my running all awkward. Actually the past couple of runs I've had have been really uncomfortable. Nothing hurts, well I bugged my calf somehow last night, but mostly it just feels like I'm kinda holding myself back in some way, and I'm kinda stiff. Its kinda like the feeling when your trying to slow yourself down while going down hill, but ALL THE TIME. Flat surface, varied surface, uphill, downhill. Not sure how ti fix it.

I did finally get all the blood to drain out though. I just needed to poke like 5 holes into it.
 
Yikes!Are you truly relaxing

Yikes!

Are you truly relaxing as fully as you can with every step?
 
Funny. I actually kick myself

Funny. I actually kick myself when I run too. Not too often, though. Usually its in the ankle and it hurts like a mofo.
 
Aha! I figured it out, I

Aha! I figured it out, I wasn't bending my knees enough. I seem to always have really crappy runs before I figure something out. I guess I forgot to bend my knees when I started trying to make my feet not slap. Its all good now though, thank you random runs home from work, haha. I don't know how I managed to not hurt my feet at all running straight legged... I guess I was listening to them well enough that I could compensate, just not well enough to actually fix the problem. I think this is why a lot of people quit barefoot after only a few times, because it feels more and more like you'll never get it right, and then, BAM! You fix whatever you're trying to fix.

Hopefully the heel kicking will clear itself up now that I've got the rest of me sorted out. Next issue to tackle, running efficiently enough that I can get away with breathing through my nose...
 
A few thoughts.  Kicking

A few thoughts. Kicking yourself typically comes from two things. 1. Stepping in foot over foot. This is a not a good thing to do so I recommend working on taking it out of your form if you have it. I'm not saying your feet have to land with a foot of space between them but not landing on the same line will do a lot for the efficiency of your form. 2. Weak adductors will pull your leg inward when you run. Building strength in the adductors (innner thigh) will help you hold a stronger form as well as keep you more efficient when running.

For blisters a blood blister should be treated like any other. The difference is just that the irritation has broken skin and bled into the blister pocket. This can, like any blister, mean you need to make mulitple holes to completely drain but getting it drained is the best thing to do. I've found over the years that blood blisters seem to heal faster than regular blisters. Not sure why but I'm actually almost happier when I see a blood blister because I know it'll be gone faster. Also make sure to keep an eye on blisters after they have started drying out. You want the dead skin to go away or you will begin to develop a callous and typically a callous caused by blisters will keep developing blisters and you will find yourself in one be blister cycle. Always remove the dead skin after the blister has healed and only after it has healed.
 
Ahhhhhh. That would explain

Ahhhhhh. That would explain why some of my blood blister "patches" never seem to go away. They are developing calluses now and every now and then end up like a blister again. Funny, one is on the very tip of my second toe, almost wrapping around the front. Like I'm dragging that toe somehow. Luckily its getting better.
 
Zap I would bet you are

Zap I would bet you are probably digging in with that toe as you land or maybe when you lift off. If it's on the tip of your toe then you are at some point in your foot fall making contact with the ground and causing friction in that spot. The advice is always simple in saying to relax but that's obviously an issue if it's happening so my advice will be to think about it when you run. Try to see if you can tell when it's happening while your running and that will tell you alot about how to correct it.

I also recommend something like a Ped Egg for your callous areas. Whenever I start to have any issues with blister spots or callouses developing I whip out the egg and it takes care of the problem quick.
 
Thanks so much for the

Thanks so much for the advice, Jimmy. I'll definitely start paying more attention. I'm going to check out the ped egg. I know I could use that.
 
My contribution to this

My contribution to this thread in pictures:

Blood blister caused by the knot under my huaraches:
s-P1030728.JPG


Being popped:
s-P1030732.JPG


All gone:
s-P1030733.JPG




I hope it's really all gone because I will be running my first race this Sunday. I plan to wear my huaraches+socks for the first mile or so until my feet warm up.

I never had blood blisters before and didn't have a regular blister in month. I had to run at the YMCA this morning and of course they won't let me run barefoot. One guy let me run in huaraches on the treadmill and is pushing to have the huaraches officially accepted by the management. Anyway, it was my 2nd time on a treadmill and I hated it, feeling confined to a small space, with constant speed. And I felt I was pounding more. I use my huaraches from time to time to go over rought surfaces or earlier this week I used them for 1 mile until my feet warmed up and they never caused blisters but on the treadmill I started feeling something wrong onb my left foot after 2 miles.

I hope it will be totally gone by Sunday morning.
 
Jimmy Hart wrote:A few

Jimmy Hart said:
A few thoughts. Kicking yourself typically comes from two things. 1. Stepping in foot over foot. This is a not a good thing to do so I recommend working on taking it out of your form if you have it. I'm not saying your feet have to land with a foot of space between them but not landing on the same line will do a lot for the efficiency of your form. 2. Weak adductors will pull your leg inward when you run. Building strength in the adductors (innner thigh) will help you hold a stronger form as well as keep you more efficient when running.



When I ran shod I would randomly kick myself in the back of the legs... Usually twice during long runs at most. Now that I am running BF, I have not kicked myself once. And my inner thighs have been sore.
 
All of that kicking yourself

All of that kicking yourself must've been a sign, you guys!

SL, I hope you will be ready for your race too. At least you popped it now, so it can heal before Sunday. Oh, and thanks for sharing the pictures. Hee.
 
  Ok, I just got some new

Ok, I just got some new blood blisters today (on my 2nd and 4th toes), so I thought I'd chime in. I haven't had any blisters in a long time. Even after running my 1/2 marathon, no blisters. Anyway, today I ran a 10 mile Turkey Trot (or as I've been calling it lately, a Gobbler Gallop), and I did fairly well: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/kKbBTc9Xvwg. Ran a 1:28:18 which is about a 8:51 min/mile pace. That may be what caused the blisters since I haven't ran any further than about 6 miles barefoot since my 1/2 marathon, and I have never ran that fast for that long since I've been barefoot. I was trying to concentrate on lifting my feet quicker and not pushing off, since I think that is what has been causing "wear spots" on my 5th metatarsal and tenderness on my 1st met. Anyway, I think I did good until the last couple of miles. I noticed that I was running more flat footed as I got tired and my feet got "tender" (although still keeping my knees bent. I don't think I was actually landing completely flat but my heal was making more than normal ground contact). I did try to shift to the grass whenever I could those last couple of miles, but there were stickers in the grass. The stickers really didn't hurt, but I could feel that they were there, and I guess that kinda "bothered" me. I could usually just brush my foot in the taller grass (if there was any since alot of the grass was dying), and that would get rid of most of them (I thought it got rid of them completely until I finished the run and was getting ready to put my VFFs on...there were at least 4-5 stickers on each foot still). Anyway, when I finally went to put my VFFs on, I removed the stickers and brushed the sand/pebbles off of my feet and I did not notice any blisters. After wearing my VFFs and walking around and talking to some people who I conversed with during the run about BFR, I decided to leave. On my way to my car, I noticed that my toes were hurting a little bit, but nothing too bad. I stopped off at a convenience store and grabbed a drink, returned to my car, and decided to take my shoes off to check out why they were so tender and I saw BIG blood blisters. I was actually in shock since I did not notice them when I put my VFFs on. My feet actually felt better immediately following this run than they have on some even shorter runs with no blisters forming. Anyway, I took pics of the blisters before I popped them:

YF0a6.jpg




...and after I popped them:

weyH0.jpg




I did not get any while I was popping them since they squirted out in a jet stream, and I didn't want to get in trouble having blood/blister juice all over the place.