21ST CENTURY MEDICINE: The cheap, simple way to prevent blisters.

All it takes is some paper tape applied to the foot in blister-prone areas before running, the researchers said.

To test this blister-prevention method, the researchers recruited 128 runners who were participating in a 155-mile (250 kilometers) ultramarathon in 2014.

The researchers applied paper tape to just part of each runner’s foot, so that the untaped areas would serve as a control. At the end of the race, which took seven days, only 30 runners (24 percent) had any blisters in the taped areas, whereas 81 runners (63 percent) developed blisters in the untaped areas.

I’m not a runner, but I’ve found that a good pair of hiking boots is usually all it takes to avoid blisters on mountain camping trips. For longer hikes, try wearing a pair of thin dress socks under your athletic socks.