We've all been there, especially in pre season. But footballers can suffer from blisters at any point during the football season. It's one of the most annoying parts of football, because even though blisters are relatively minor they can be really painful and if you don't have time to let them heal they can actually keep you out injured.
New boots, sweat and wet pitches are all culprits in causing blisters. But how can you avoid getting blisters?
Wearing your boots in
The number one cause of blisters during football is stiff football boots. When you first get a pair of football boots, the material can be hard and stiffened while they are in storage, before you buy them. It's important to "wear them in".
You can do this by wearing them around the house for 10 minutes per day. Obviously this needs to be done before you've worn them outside, or you'll make a bit of a mess!
But wearing them to walk around for a few minutes allows the material to gently stretch and become loose. If you only wear them for 10 minutes at a time, you'll also unlikely get blisters so your feet will get used to them.
You can wear a couple of pairs of socks and tie them up tightly too, just to add a little extra stretch.
Wear the correct football boot types
Once you've worn your boots in, another important thing to think about is wether the ground your playing on is suitable for moulds or studs. Moulds are smaller and there's usually more of them. These boots are more suitable for hard ground where they do not need to stick in the ground to give you grip. When the pitches are more soft, for example during the winter matches, boots with studs should be your go-too choice of football boots.
Studs are designed for soft ground. They are slightly longer so stick in the mud more, giving you more grip.
The choice of boot is important because if you do not have the right level of traction while you're playing, your feet could slip within your boots and this is what ultimately causes blisters; when your skin rubs against the boots.
Correct socks
Make sure you are wearing the right type of socks. Football grip socks are designed to provide you with extra grip to prevent your feet slipping around within your boots. This reduces the number of blisters you get as your skin will not rub against the material of the boots.
Our grip socks are also made of breathable material around your foot, which reduces sweating, again stopping any additional slippage within your socks and football boots.
You can order a 3 pack of grip socks directly from us and save £10.
Blister plasters
If you feel some soreness already coming on, or even if you're suffering from blisters as it is - you can try applying blister plasters to the sore areal. This will prevent any additional rubbing and blistering. These are single use though, so if you are using them, try to avoid aggravating the sore area while it heals.
Consider foot deodorant
You can also try deodorant for your feet. This obviously reduces how much your feet sweat and again stops your skin rubbing against your boots when you're playing football.
This can be especially important during pre season or in the summer months where the weather is typically warmer (in the UK, anyway) and your feet might sweat more.
Conclusion
Overall, it's always better to prevent blisters if you can, rather than to have to result in using blister plasters or even avoiding playing while your sore feet heal. Our main recommendations would be to wear your boots in a few times before you play or train in them, and of course you should always be wearing football grip socks to avoid getting blisters, as well as for many other benefits to your game!
Order some along with tape to match your kit today and save with our match day bundle.