Why You Shouldn’t Wear Your Rings While Working Out
Whether you are newly engaged or newly getting into an active lifestyle, you may want to re-consider keeping rings on when you work out, and not for the reason you would suspect. Damage to your wedding and engagement rings is possible during any rigorous activity, including scratches and losing a setting, but many gym goers don’t realize there is a risk of bodily harm as well.
Some of the injuries that can result from keeping a ring on during rigorous physical activities are surprisingly painful and gruesome, surely enough to keep any athlete down for a few weeks. Just ask Jimmy Fallon, who sported a cast on his finger back in 2015 due to a nasty injury from his ring known as “ring avulsion” — if you get squeamish, don’t Google it. Ring avulsion happens when the ring gets caught on an object (in Fallon’s case, a table) and as the ring gets ripped off the finger, it takes skin and muscle and tendon with it, sometimes down to the bone. More often than not, it results in amputation. Fortunately for Fallon, he got to keep his finger, but he was still getting corrective surgery for the injury as recently as September.
While this injury is rare and can happen whether you’re at the gym or not, the risk certainly goes up any time you’re doing a rigorous physical activity. Even if your ring finger gets injured as a result of something besides the ring itself, like a simple break, the swelling could require the ring being cut off — and some metals are becoming difficult to cut off even in an emergency room setting.
These injuries don’t have to mean the end of wearing rings during workout. Some gym goers will want to show their love and commitment to their spouses while at the gym, while also mitigating the above risks. Qualo is a great choice as a ring alternative. It is made of medical grade silicone, and won’t pinch or cause ring avulsion. They are also very easy to cut off, meaning that if you do get injured, you’ll only lose the silicone ring and not your priceless memento. The rings are about $15-25 each, and Qualo even offers a custom engraving option, which makes them a great gift for a gym-loving spouse.
Of course, there are other alternatives as well, like wearing the ring on a chain as a necklace. Regardless of where, how, and when you do it, however, it is safest to go without rings while working out.