blister and pain...urgent, please...

and if you pop it... like you said you did... make sure you wash it with alcohol. feet in shoes playing sports can be quite germy. so make sure you wash the blistered area and apply some alcohol on it. itz gonna sting really bad but if you look on the bright side, the pain when you play your tournament won't hurt more than alcohol on open wound =P hehehe... as for the bruise, that is weird. i hope you aren't infected. see a doctor?

 

Draining a blister relieves pain, but it also provides an entry point for infection to get beneath the skin.

Given that you have popped the blister, you should try to keep the area as clean and dry as possible. Sweaty feet offer excellent living conditions for bacteria, so the risk of infection is significant.

In the future, either leave the blister alone or prick it with a needle to drain it. Popping the blister with your fingers may cause a larger skin tear, with a greater infection risk (infection risk is roughly proportional to surface area exposed).

Whenever you can take a break from the court, go clean and dry your feet and put on a fresh pair of socks.

As for the pain, there's little you can do for that apart from painkillers. You should take an anti-inflammatory anyway for a few days (ibuprofen, 400mg, 3 times daily with meals). You might also supplement this with a stronger painkiller such as co-codamol (but get the prescription version, which normally has a 30/500 ratio of codeine to paracetamol; the over-the-counter version is 5-10/500, which is basically just expensive paracetamol).

You could try adding some cushioning to the area, but it's likely to come unstuck and annoy you.

The best solution is not to play, of course.

 

oh em gee... whatever you do, drugs is not the solution. drugs + sports is definitely not a good combination. if you can't play, you can't play, don't take drugs.

 

That's a bit simplistic. It depends on the injury.

The problem with painkillers is that they can mask an injury, and then you make the injury worse because you don't feel the pain.

For example, painkillers + sprained ankle + sport = danger

Some injuries, however, are simply painful without being dangerous. A blister can be very uncomfortable but does not represent a long-term injury risk. While it would be better not to play at all, it makes sense to take painkillers if you are going to play.

Painkillers are both over- and under-used: over-used by people who could potentially get a long-term injury, and under-used by people who think that relying on painkillers is always bad.

Finally, don't forget that anti-inflammatory painkillers have a curative effect on many injuries, not just an analgesic effect: by bringing down swelling, they can improve recovery.

 

yes yes... but a blister isn't exactly inflamed. my friend takes ibuprofen for his shin splints when he plays which isn't exactly right cuz if that hurts that much to play on, then he shouldn't be playing at all. what i was referring to is that if you take drugs and play sports, because of accelerated heart beat (super accelerated cuz it pretty much goes over 100+ bpm easily) the drugs could create a side effect. couldn't it? that's why i said if it hurts that much that you need drugs then you shouldn't play at all.

 

I usually try to pop them using a small pin, and make the smallest hole possible, then you can just stick a plaster on top. Playing isn't a problem, because you won't do any long term damage to your foot, hopefully once your adrenaline and competitiveness gets going, the pain should go away or be less pronounced. Just try not to put any pressure on your foot until then.

And unless the blister is right on the ball of your foot, it should be possible to try to move without putting too much pressure on the blister.

 

Again, this is a simplistic, reactionary approach to injury, sport, and pain.

Ibuprofen is an extremely safe drug with minimal side effects. It's only common and significant side effect is that it is a mild gastric irritant. Taken long term (say, every day for 20 years), this might give you a stomach ulcer. Taken for a few days at a time, most people experience no side effects. Because it is a gastric irritant, ibuprofen is best taken together with food.

The scenario that you present -- ibuprofen bringing on a heart or brain injury due to increased heart rate/blood pressure -- is extremely unlikely.

Shin splints are a tendon sheath irritation. Taking ibuprofen seems fine to me; again, this is an injury that does not pose any long-term risk -- it's not like a sprain that could become unstable. The only problem here is that his regular use of ibuprofen during sport might mask other gradual onset injuries. He should have a break from the drug every now and then to check.

Shin splints are usually caused by a biomechanical problem, such as incorrect foot strike. Often they can be fixed by correctly fitted orthotic insoles.

In an ideal world, everyone would fix their injuries. We would visit the doctor/physio/whatever, do some rehab, and soon be in perfect shape. Unfortunately, that doesn't always work. Some injuries never completely heal, and people have to learn to live with them.

I don't advocate indiscriminate use of painkillers, and I certainly don't agree with using painkillers to avoid confronting the problem. I think considerable care is needed to make sure painkillers such as ibuprofen don't give you false confidence in your safety to play. Moreover, I think it is unwise to become dependent on painkillers -- ie, take them regularly -- unless you really need to. I live with a little chronic pain because I feel this is better than taking painkillers all the time. If my pain level was much higher, I would get on the drugs.

But I believe there are times when it is appropriate to take painkillers and play sport.

Suppose you gave yourself a nasty burn on your non-playing hand. Burns can be really painful, but why should it stop you playing badminton? You're not at risk of further injury, just in lots of pain. Personally, I'd dose myself up with an ibuprofen/co-codamol cocktail and go enjoy the badminton.

 

haha...sounds familiar... =P i'd just play without ibuprofen cuz once i start enjoying myself, all pain goes away...

 

hope you win!!!!!