Tips to Tape Your Feet

Many athletes have tried to tape their feet only to find it doesn’t stick well and comes off sooner than they like. There are several reasons for this so in this post, I’ll give you some tips on taping your feet:
•    Skin is naturally oily so you must remove the oils with an alcohol wipe. I often use several wipes. These are available at most drug stores, in a very small tear-open packet.
•    If there is dirt caked on your feet, get as much as possible off the skin.
•    If taping over a hot spot, apply a very small dab of lubricant to the hot spot area so the tape will not stick.

•    If taping over a blister, drain and patch the blister first.
•    Apply a tape adherent to the skin where the tape will be applied. Tincture of benzoin is the best and can be found at or ordered through your local drug sore.
•    Cut the tape to the desired size, rounding all corners. This simple step helps prevent the tape from rolling up. In the photo you can see the rounded edges.
•    Apply the tape to the foot.
•    Add a small dab of lubricant or powder to the areas of skin, which is still sticky from the tincture of benzoin. Failure to do this may cause your socks to stick to your skin, or in the case of toes, skin to stick to skin.
•    Carefully bunch up your socks and roll them on your foot, taking care to not disturb the tape.
•    If changing socks, roll them down the foot in the same way.

     Next time, I will talk about some of the most popular tapes and pros and cons of each.
     For those of you who don’t want to hunt all over for supplies, Zombierunner is an online source for tapes, tincture of benzoin, alcohol wipes, and complete foot care kits.