Blisters under the toenail

[trippclark]

I have hiked a bit over a thosand miles of the AT in the past ten years and have been fortunate that most of these have been blister-free. During two of my past three trips, however, I have managed to get very painful blisters UNDER the toenails of both feet, on the one or two toes beside the big toe. The first time was on a very big mileage day -- 27 miles -- and immediately after a 20 mile day -- so I chalked it up to extra trauma from extreme (for me) miles. This most recent trip, however, was much more modest in daily miles. I had a 5 mile late afternoon start, followed by three days of approx. 13, 16, and 18 miles. The blisters developed on the 16 mile day and early on the 18 mile day. My shoes have been used on many trips before, and I am doing nothing new with socks (SmartWool socks with liners). I do not detect any significant discomfort before the blister develops, but once there it REALLY HURTS! Has anyone else experienced this? I am trying to determine what is causing it to I can correct it. Is it trauma from the end of the shoe, or trauma across the top where it bends across the toe box? Any insight?

[Spokes]

I got several black toenails when training for a couple ultra-marathons but only lost one toenail and consider myself lucky. Sure they hurt like crazy. I found I was more prone to get them when I failed to keep my toenails cut short. They tended to catch on my socks which over time led to the trauma and resulting "blister" underneath.

I also got a couple sore/black toenails on last year's thru and noticed they appeared after high mileage days with lots of downhills. An epsom salt soak always helped draw out the pain.

Good luck.

[trippclark]

Thanks.

I should clarify, by the way, that this is a painful water blister but has not been black toe. Now I did have this occur very early (2000 or 2001) in Georgia or NC, and I solved this by bumping up half a size in boots. I now wear trail runners. With these earlier incidents it was exactly as you describe and downhills were causing the nail to impact the end of the boot.

[wcgornto]

I lost several middle toenails on both feet on my thru hike last year. I had no pain or discomfort, just toenails that turned from red to black then fell off.

[trippclark]

I lost several middle toenails on both feet on my thru hike last year. I had no pain or discomfort, just toenails that turned from red to black then fell off.


Yeah, I have had more than a few of those also. You are right, no pain to speak of.

[Elder]

Mostly caused by to short boots/shoes.
Can also be lack of foot stability in the shoes..consider a footbed to support the arches. Lack of support under the metatarsals can lead to collapse and problems with the second and third toes, numbness even PF
(plantar fa..sp?).
Not just a padded insert, or gel, a footbed.
Of course trimming the nails can help too.

[trippclark]

Mostly caused by to short boots/shoes.
Can also be lack of foot stability in the shoes..consider a footbed to support the arches. Lack of support under the metatarsals can lead to collapse and problems with the second and third toes, numbness even PF
(plantar fa..sp?).
Not just a padded insert, or gel, a footbed.
Of course trimming the nails can help too.

Thanks. Good tips. I was using and have been using SuperFeet footbeds. Next trip I am going to be sure nails are trimmed extra close right before the trip to see if that makes a difference.

[Del Q]

I may have read this tip on Whiteblaze, two weeks before each hike I put isopropyl alcohol on both feet 2x per day, in between toes, etc. Almost no foot issues since I started doing this. Shoes 1/2 size bigger also helps with the toe issue, fit shoes with lacing.

[nitewalker]

i had a blister issue only one time where it was a problem. that was when i hiked the mid state trail thru mass a few yrs back. i had a blister the size of a credit card on the bottom of my rt foot along with a blister on the front of four toes, 3 of them had a blister under the original blister and to make it worse i had blisters under the same 3 toenails. this was the worst pain i have ever felt in my life. i discoverd the use of hiking poles due to this. i had to use two sticks to aid in my attempt to get to rte 20. i was so out of it due to the pain that i followed the rerout in a big 3 or 4 mile loop rite back to where i had started that morning, ugggggggggh! i finally got off the trail, called a buddy and went home. more to the story but that is the jist of it.. nothing i have ever done will even come close to the misery i went thru for that whole day.

after that inciddent i bought new boots and tended to stay away from trails with too much road walking. i now belive the reasons i got these blisters was partly due to bad boots, uncut toenails, sock neglect and way too much flat ground. this was the only trip ever where blisters have beat me down. sometimes if i hike on flat trails i may develop a small blister but it usually lies at the front of my index toe. [only flat trails fla. tr., n s tr.,mid state tr and trails in this class]. the harder the terrain the better my feet stay. to sum it all up: if i repeat the same step too many times during the hike it will most likely develop the blister. if my footing is always changing[white mtns] then the blisters will not be a problem....flat trails=repetitive step=blister...:-?:-?

[sbhikes]

I got blisters under my big toenails from a pair of shoes I had hiked in forever. I was backpacking and going down a steep hill. I wondered if it was the hill or the shoes being old. It happened again with new shoes of the same brand and a long dayhike. I decided to wear shoes at least two sizes too big after that and I have never had the problem again.