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Status unknownNCT03835806BELIEVERUpdated Jun 25, 2021

Blister Eradication Looking at Impact of Experimental Versus Established Regimens

An interventional study of Elastikon and Rocktape in Blister of Foot, sponsored by Stanford University. Status unknown at 3 sites in 3 countries. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2021-06-25.

Sponsored by Stanford University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Jun 2021), so the status shown — last known as Recruiting — may be out of date.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
130
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 65 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The specific aim of this study is to evaluate whether RockTape has similar efficacy to Elastikon in the treatment of foot blisters in ultramarathon runners. Elastikon with paper tape and spray adhesive is a well-accepted means of blister treatment and has been used by medical staff at over 50 multi-stage ultramarathons around the world. RockTape is another commercially available product that has also been used by runners successfully to treat foot blisters. RockTape's adhesive qualities have a potential advantage over Elastikon, in that it does not require an additional adhesive substituting a level of complexity, weight, and cost for foot care. There have been no studies examining the efficacy of either agent for blister treatment.

This randomized controlled trial will compare the traditional method of treating blisters with a multi-step approach of percutaneous drainage, paper tape, spray adhesive and then Elastikon to percutaneous drainage, paper tape and RockTape.

Read the detailed description

Friction foot blisters are one of the most common injuries encountered by hikers and runners(1) with incidence as high as 39% in marathoners(2). In adventure races it is the most commonly reported injury(3) and in expedition length ultramarathons, blisters account for nearly 74% of medical visits(4). While most blisters are of minor medical significance, they can impair concentration, decrease athletic performance, and can be potentially debilitating.

The specific aim of this study is to evaluate whether RockTape has similar efficacy to Elastikon in the treatment of foot blisters in ultramarathon runners. Elastikon with paper tape and spray adhesive is a well-accepted means of blister treatment and has been used by medical staff at over 50 multi-stage ultramarathons around the world. RockTape is another commercially available product that has also been used by runners successfully to treat foot blisters. RockTape's adhesive qualities have a potential advantage over Elastikon, in that it does not require an additional adhesive substituting a level of complexity, weight, and cost for foot care. There have been no studies examining the efficacy of either agent for blister treatment.

This randomized controlled trial will compare the traditional method of treating blisters with a multi-step approach of percutaneous drainage, paper tape, spray adhesive and then Elastikon to percutaneous drainage, paper tape and RockTape.

02

Conditions studied

  • Blister of Foot

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03

In context

Blister

36 studies on the registry are indexed under Blister; 3 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 130 is above the median of 65 across 24 interventional studies indexed under Blister.

Browse Blister studies →

Lead sponsor

Stanford University is the lead sponsor of 2,168 studies on the registry; 431 are open to participants now.

Of its 267 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 207 (78%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 65 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • The study enrollment period will run for approximately 7 days over 3 weeks throughout 2019 at Racing the Planet races in Namibia, Mongolia and Chile. All racers are potential subjects.

Subjects will be enrolled when they present to the medical tent for the treatment of their first painful blister. The subject will be evaluated for exclusion criteria and the subject will be asked to select the most painful blister to be included in the study. All other blisters may be treated through traditional means and are not included in the study.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Blister exclusion criteria:

    1. Toe blisters will be excluded because they are treated with paper tape only to avoid friction against neighboring toes and further blister formation.
    2. Only intact blisters are included in this study as de-roofed blisters are treated differently.
    3. Hemorrhagic blisters are excluded as they are often not amenable to percutaneous drainage given the increased risk in infection.

If the most painful blister is a toe blister or a hemorrhagic blister, then the second most painful blister will be selected. If there is no second blister, the subject cannot be enrolled at this time.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
130 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Elastikon - traditional

    The participant will be randomized to a treatment arm according to their racing bib number. Even bib numbers will be in the Elastikon treatment arm. The researcher will evaluate the blister and treat according to treatment arm with the following blister treatment device intervention: the blister will be prepped per routine, drained, covered with paper tape, sprayed with adhesive spray and then covered with Elastikon.

    Other: Elastikon

  • Experimental
    Rocktape - novel

    The participant will be randomized to a treatment arm according to their racing bib number. Odd bib numbers will be in the Rocktape treatment arm. The researcher will evaluate the blister and treat according to treatment arm with the following blister treatment device intervention: the blister will be prepped per routine, drained, covered with paper tape and then covered with Rocktape

    Other: Rocktape

Interventions

  • OtherElastikon

    This randomized controlled trial will compare the traditional method of treating blisters with a multi-step approach of percutaneous drainage, paper tape, spray adhesive and then Elastikon which is our traditional blister treatment approach.

  • OtherRocktape

    This randomized controlled trial will compare the traditional method of treating blisters with a multi-step approach of percutaneous drainage, paper tape and then Rocktape which is our novel blister treatment approach.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Treatment success

    The subject's involvement in the study will end in one of the following situations and the researcher will fill out the appropriate data sheet at the time of the subject's departure from the study. 1. The blister treatment is a success as defined by: 1. the blister treatment falls off and the subject has no pain and no blister reoccurrence 2. the blister treatment is removed by the subject and does not need to be replaced because the there is no pain or blister present 3. the blister treatment stays on for the length of the study needing no intervention 2. The blister treatment is a failure as defined by: 1. if the blister re-occurs 2. if the treated area has pain to the point that the blister treatment must be removed to evaluate 3. if the subject removes the blister treatment and needs to be retreated. 3. The race has come to completion 4. The subject withdraws from the race or the study.

    Time frame: Data will be collected during the 1 week ultramarathon in austere conditions until study completion, usually 3-5 days. This will be conducted over 3 separate races.

07

Study locations

3 of 3 sites recruiting
  • Racing the Planet
    San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
    Recruiting
  • Racing the Planet
    Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia
    Recruiting
  • Namib Desert
    Windhoek, Namibia
    Recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jun 25, 2021, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03835806
Responsible party
Patrick B Burns (Clinical Assistant Professor, Stanford University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Feb 11, 2019
Start date
Apr 27, 2019
Primary completion
Aug 31, 2022 (estimated)
Completion
Aug 31, 2022 (estimated)
Last update
Jun 25, 2021

Study contacts

Patrick B Burns, MD
Contact
pburns@stanford.edu
9788663533
Grant Lipman, MD
Contact
gslipman@stanford.edu
4152909286
Patrick B Burns, MD
principal investigator · Stanford University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is status unknown, as verified in Jun 2021. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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