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A Prospective Randomized Blister Prevention Trial Assessing Paper Tape in Endurance Distances (Pre-TAPED)
- Source :
- Wilderness & Environmental Medicine. 25:457-461
- Publication Year :
- 2014
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2014.
-
Abstract
- Objective Friction foot blisters are a common injury occurring in up to 39% of marathoners, the most common injury in adventure racing, and represent more than 70% of medical visits in multi-stage ultramarathons. The goal of the study was to determine whether paper tape could prevent foot blisters in ultramarathon runners. Methods This prospective randomized trial was undertaken during RacingThePlanet 155-mile (250-km), 7-day self-supported ultramarathons in China, Australia, Egypt, Chile, and Nepal in 2010 and 2011. Paper tape was applied prerace to one randomly selected foot, with the untreated foot acting as the own control. The study end point was development of a hot spot or blister on any location of either foot. Results One hundred thirty-six participants were enrolled with 90 (66%) having completed data for analysis. There were 36% women, with a mean age of 40 ± 9.4 years (range, 25–40 years) and pack weight of 11 ± 1.8 kg (range, 8–16 kg). All participants developed blisters, with 89% occurring by day 2 and 59% located on the toes. No protective effect was observed by the intervention (47 versus 35; 52% versus 39%; P = .22), with fewer blisters occurring around the tape on the experimental foot than under the tape (23 vs 31; 25.6% versus 34.4%), yet 84% of study participants when queried would choose paper tape for blister prevention in the future. Conclusions Although paper tape was not found to be significantly protective against blisters, the intervention was well tolerated with high user satisfaction.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
China
medicine.medical_specialty
Running
law.invention
Blister
Nepal
Randomized controlled trial
law
Surveys and Questionnaires
medicine
Humans
Prospective Studies
Chile
End point
Paper tape
business.industry
User satisfaction
Australia
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Blisters
Mean age
Bandages
Surgery
Treatment Outcome
Emergency Medicine
Physical therapy
Egypt
Female
medicine.symptom
business
Foot (unit)
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10806032
- Volume :
- 25
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Wilderness & Environmental Medicine
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....a2cb57afb929b88827d79b3b50f63a58