Hi everyone. I am looking for some advice. Can worn out inner soles be the cause of sudden uncomfortable boots? Since I bought the Salomon X Ultra 3 boots I never had blisters or bruised toes but lately and after we did the Fish river in 2021 I get blisters almost every time and on the exact spots also my fourth toe on my right foot are constantly bruised. The boots still looks fine. Can it be the inners being worn out or the boots? Or has the shape of my feet changed?
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Izak I think the problem is your new shoes, they were not worn in in the sense whereby they have not taken the shape of your feet, and it’s problem. I bought Merrels and had a similar problem when I wore the old shoes and had no problems, hurtful feet on the new shoes until I inspect the new and old shoes inside and found spots where the the feet mold themselves into the sole of the shoe. Salespeople will tell you you do not need to wear them in, it is not true, maybe for young people but as time goes on things change.
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Izak, I seriously doubt that worn out inners would be the cause of your blisters. Those things are so thin that they would be fully compressed even from new. If they move around in your boot, then maybe it will have an impact.
How many miles have you done in them? Worn soles are more than likely a problem. The inside go soft from repeated use, then your foot muscles have to do double time to keep your fiotbones stable.
Have you perhaps changed socks? This could have an impact. Ive found with some of my boots that thicked socks filled the inner volume of the shoe, resulting in more chafing, resulting in blisters.
Lastly, when did you last gave the a thorough clean? If your boots can’t breathe, and you use a thicker sock, the excess moisture will make your skin damp and softer, again resulting in blisters. Ask me - I found this out the hard way.
And yes, over time you might find that your feet gets slightly bigger from hiking. There’s plenty of muscles in your feet, and when you exercise them they will increase in size and take up a little bit more space in the boot.
Hope you come right. Not fun going through the blister experience. I had a 
/hate relationship with a pair of high milage leather boots that would chafe me a lot on every alternate hike. After a lot of suffering I decided to let them go, and have been mostly blister free.
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Izak, I seriously doubt that worn out inners would be the cause of your blisters. Those things are so thin that they would be fully compressed even from new. If they move around in your boot, then maybe it will have an impact.
How many miles have you done in them? Worn soles are more than likely a problem. The inside go soft from repeated use, then your foot muscles have to do double time to keep your fiotbones stable.
Have you perhaps changed socks? This could have an impact. Ive found with some of my boots that thicked socks filled the inner volume of the shoe, resulting in more chafing, resulting in blisters.
Lastly, when did you last gave the a thorough clean? If your boots can’t breathe, and you use a thicker sock, the excess moisture will make your skin damp and softer, again resulting in blisters. Ask me - I found this out the hard way.
And yes, over time you might find that your feet gets slightly bigger from hiking. There’s plenty of muscles in your feet, and when you exercise them they will increase in size and take up a little bit more space in the boot.
Hope you come right. Not fun going through the blister experience. I had a love/hate relationship with a pair of high milage leather boots that would chafe me a lot on every alternate hike. After a lot of suffering I decided to let them go, and have been mostly blister free.
Hi Riaan. Yes I did change to thicker socks. Tried my go to socks and the problem seems better. Thanks.
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Hi Izak,
If thicker socks, don’t work 100%, then try a Bridgedale Sock Liner.
Another cause could be lacing, I had a similar issue use the runners knot, and surgeon’s knot when trail running. Just search for videos on how to do this.
Hi Izak, after I have hiked thousands of kilos and with many pairs of boots, I can try and give some advice. If your boots did not give you blisters before, and suddenly you get blisters, I think the cause is either your socks, your inners, or you walked faster than normal. The Fish River tends to give one blisters, because you walk on hard, level terrain and fast over the last two days. Inner soles are very important. Get yourself a good pair of silicone inners. BUT, they are thicker than the normal ones, so you actually need bigger boots. Use the type of socks that did not give you blisters in the past. Otherwise, check that your laces are not too tight or too loose. Regards, Derek
Izak feel the insole underneath the removeable inner if that has become too compressed it will most likely have list it’s cushioning and be part of the cause.
You can try filling with duct tape but honestly they’re probably gone…
I am going to respectfully offer the exact opposite to @derek.r ’s suggestion of silicon inners - in my experience these are the root of all evil and cause blisters.
But I acknowledge that they’re sold in their millions so they must be doing something right for someone (Derek). But I’d like to point out that not one single shoe manufacturer sells a shoe with a silicon inner in their shoe.
Let’s explore how blisters occur
-
dirt ingress leading to friction exacerbated by moisture creating a hot spot and literally ripping at the skin.
Particularly in FRC… cleaning drying and powdering your feet together with gaiters and two pairs of socks virtually eliminates this. -
movement in the dermis - your skin layers are exposed to shearing forces as we walk. Each time you place your foot down the skin stays still and the tissue above it moves forwards then backwards as we go through a stride eventually relaxing again as the foot comes off the ground.
Two pairs of socks helps to reduce the gripping point shear.
Worn insoles (the squishy fixed layer of the boot under the removable inner) create an j dent under the hardest impact point of you foot and any movement against the edge of this cup it likely to cause enhanced contact and obviously enhance a blistering point)
Silicon inners CAN (I’m not saying DOES in everyone’s example) increase the to and fro movement on the footbed giving a sharp elastic end point to the stretch and thus encourage tearing within layers of tissues - leading to blisters)
I’m pretty sure from your description that your insole has “gone” and the only remedy is to build it up and place a good (leather) insole over it
The cheapest snd on the trail most practical way us to use Duct tape it works well
I’ve experienced exactly what you’re talking about and after 40 years blister free realised where I’d gone wrong. Best alternative new boots and if you want high mine age boots these commercial fancy ones aren’t it
I found myself seated on a plane with a director from a popular boot manufacturing company in Malaysia and he told me that these insoles are designed to degrade after three years - even if left alone they’ll “fail”
Your scientific explanation on blister forming does not help. Hikers get blisters for various reasons - the shape of their feet, the way they walk, walking too fast, poor fitting shoes, wrong socks, poor insoles, etc. So it is not a simple subject with one explanation.
Shoe manufactures fit cheap insoles to save money. No other reason. They are generally of poor quality - even with more expensive, reputable brands. Many people I know walk with silicon insoles and it is wonderful. It actually has nothing to do with preventing blisters. It is to protect your soles from getting tired, bruised and sore, specifically when your shoes have hard soles and no cushioning mid-sole. But as I have mentioned, if you want to use silicon inners, you need to buy bigger shoes. That is crucial, because these midsoles are rather thick and take up one size of your shoes. Scubafrique, you should try it - especially since your feet are not so young any more…
Derek.r
I did say “Respectfully” and I did mean it
Yep tried Silicon insoles they’re the devil - Got a blister forming within 10km, was with Jim Green Monsters - which are notoriously comfy and there was plenty of space. The problem being that forwards and backwards stretching of the skin under foot.
My take away is that recommending these to people is like torturing them I will never advocate them but I understand every single foot is different and has different needs.
“Why” and “How” blisters form are two separate questions The reality is that torsional forces rip apart a layer of flesh either cutaneous or sub cutaneous this is the “Why” (I guess theres also literal “boiling” too).
I maintain that Silicon enhances movement leading to (subcutaneous rather than surface) blisters and Ive no intention of ever using them again.
I dont go for the economics argument - silicon is the most abundant mineral on the planet and free forming it is a simple process. Hence I still would like to see any manufacturer put one in their shoes before I re-evaluate.
But you are absolutely right theres many reasons as to what caused (How) blisters. and yes theres a myriad of different feet situations going on.
Im a heavier than the racing snakes I walk with and carry a heavy pack, thus my feet take a bit more of the brunt than most Hikers.
I walked Fishriver Canyon with New boots, brought less than 4 days before descending (the Jim Green Monsters) having only walked 5km and driven in them up to AisAis Bog standard not a single blip of a problem, following that numerous Table Mountain ascents a few other multi day hikes and trails, a leg of the Kruger Trail. In total Ive now hiked off trail with the Jim Greens over 900km and I think that the innersole has collapsed to the point that they’re not anywhere as good as new and Im looking for another pair of boots.
Being Smart I thought I could make them better and added the Silicon insoles, - felt amazingly comfortable in the Lounge and driving up (Fortunately I took the original (pap) insoles on the hike with me) and changed after 10km, but the damage was done with a very deep blister and the following 90km was miserable. I did another leg of the Kruger after this and was OK, Hot spots only, I think from the deep damage.
Interestingly there is a British Army 4 layer thick mesh insole made from (essentially) “Fishing line”. Ive used these in the past, but for the life of me I cant find a size 10W. (Until I just googled an image and they popped up (not a wide but will try them anyway…)
They last longer than three pairs of boots, completely washable and drip dry in minutes. They do form to your foot contour to an extent but dont collapse. They are obviously very airy (cool in hot conditions and warm in cold conditions)