Do Hiking Socks Prevent Blisters?

Hiking socks 1

Hiking is a very relaxing and healthy outdoor activity, but it can also be dangerous and hazardous if necessary gats or protection are not worn. One such protection is hiking socks that help to prevent blisters. Do hiking socks prevent blisters? Read more to find out!

Hiking socks are very essential to hiking, they protect your legs and at the same time, they also keep your feet warm. A good pair of hiking socks can make all the difference between a good hike and a bad one.

But do hiking socks prevent blisters? Do they prevent your hiking from becoming a bloody mess? 

Let’s dig in and find out.

Do Hiking Socks Prevent Blisters?

Blisters are one of the most common hiking injuries out there. Most hikers often get injured while hiking especially if their boots are the hard types. But does wearing socks prevent your feet from getting blisters?  

Hiking socks relieve the pressure of your feet. Hiking socks help in reducing pressure and friction on your feet when walking because of their ability to break down the ground where you walk.

Socks are extra protection for your feet, they do relieve the pressure on your feet or prevent blisters. [because of its thickness]. Wearing socks might actually increase the friction in your foot, plus because it is thicker, it provides more protection to your foot.

However, if you are using hiking boots that cover most parts of your feet up to your ankles and you have used two pairs of socks then it would not be surprising for you that you still get blisters.

The more socks you wear, the more protection against getting blisters because of the extra protection between your skin and your hiking boot.

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How To Prevent Hiking blisters

When you do any repetitive activity, such as walking or running, the impact against the ground can cause friction and shearing of skin. A blister is a pocket of clear fluid that forms beneath a layer of skin when pressure is applied to an area of the skin for an extended period of time. Blisters can occur in areas like your feet, hands, legs or arms.

Gaining the attention of these blisters can result in various types of skin infections, pain and loss of flexibility. If left untreated, blisters can be very painful and become infected.

There are various ways that blister protection can be achieved. Some of them include frequent hand washing, regular foot washing and applying topical creams onto the area of the skin. However, none of these are as effective or efficient as using hiking socks that prevent blisters.

Blisters in hiking are very common and most times they usually ruin the plans you have made already. They ruin your botts and you are also at risk of getting them infected. No one likes this, no one likes having their plans ruined.

Here are tips on how to prevent yourself from having blisters while hiking;

  • Wear Boots that fit: most people make the mistake of wearing boots that are very tight, thinking a tight boot makes hiking easier. But it is the opposite, tight boots cause your feet to rub against your boot’s leather thereby causing blisters. Also wearing loose boots causes a lot of friction that can also cause blisters.
  • Make sure your feet are dry before wearing socks: putting wet feet inside socks can cause moisture which can make your skin soft and cause blisters. Also if you can, make sure you stop once in a while whilst hiking and remove your boots and socks so your wet feet can dry out.
  • Carry extra Socks: sometimes it is safer to use more than one sock while hiking especially if you sweat a lot. 
  • Wear Lighter Boots: wearing lighter boots reduces the effort your leg muscles use in moving thereby causing less sweating.
  • Carry blister treatment products: Carrying blister treatment products might help you in the long run. Sometimes even after wearing the best socks and wearing the right boots, you might still get blisters. Applying those products protects you from getting them infected.
  • Wear the right Hiking Socks: wearing the right socks protects you from blisters. It is even okay to wear two layers of socks.

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How to Choose Socks that Prevent blisters

When you are prone to getting blisters all the time, you might get picky about your socks. There are factors that need considered before getting a pair of socks that prevent blisters. You might want to consider the materials used in making it, and the weight of the socks.

Here are some of the features you should look for when getting hiking socks.

  • Wicking: the best hiking socks have high wicking, meaning they remove moisture from your feet to remove blisters
  • Fit: you must make sure they fit properly, if they are too tight they may cut off blood circulation. If they are too loose, you are at risk of getting blisters. If they are too short, then there is now protection from the bottom of your trousers to the top of your boots.
  • Material: you need to consider what material is best suited for you. The one that rubs against your skin properly.
  • Thickness: Socks have a different variety of thicknesses ranging from thin layered to double layered socks. Thin layered socks are good for warm and short hike days. Mid thickness socks are good for longer hikes and if the weather isn’t too warm. Thick socks are perfect for longer and tougher hikes with cold temperatures.
  • Anti-odour: these types of socks allow users to wear them for multiple days with minimal odour. It is also important to know wearing socks for multiple days is not recommended. 

Lastly, there are no socks that can be used for all types of hiking, make sure you know what hike you are going to before you get socks. Your boots also need to be considered also.

Reviews of the Best Hiking socks To Prevent Blisters

Wearing the right footwear is the backbone of any hiking success. Our feet are the workforce of any hiking adventure, it is important to protect them and also provide them with gears that enable their utmost output.

Here are some of the best hiking socks you can get for your hiking adventure. A lot of factors were included in making this list. They range from comfort to durability to quality to thickness and so on.

  • Darn Tough Hiker Micro Crew
  • Smartwool Performance Hike
  • Farm to Feet Damascus
  • Balega Hidden Comfort
  • REI Merino Hiking Crew
  • Injinji Run
  • Swiftwick Flite XT Trail
  • Feetures Elite
  • WrightSock Coolmesh II
  • Icebreaker Hike+
  • Wooly Merino Air
  • REI Merino Wool Hiking

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Conclusion

Do you enjoy a good hike through the wilderness as much as we do? If so, it’s important to take precautions like dressing in layers and wearing proper footwear in order to protect yourself from injuries that can arise while on the trail. One of these protections is hiking socks. These socks are not just ordinary socks. They are specially designed with features that prevent and reduce blistering on your hiking feet.

Your feet are one of the main areas of your body that you touch every day. So it is always important to look after your feet to ensure they are healthy and hydrated as much as they could be.

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Written by Jane Miller

I'm Nomadic Jane, a digital nomad and travel blogger. Since 2009, I've been traveling the world and exploring cultures through my travel blog.