How to not lose a finger?

General Yo-Yo
1

Been yoyoing for about 2 weeks now, got a ton of help from this site’s learning section and was referred to a Velocity yoyo not long ago by this forum. So far I’m lovin’ the Velocity, so much better than the cheap little butterfly once I got the bearing adjusted properly but I am having one problem, How do you stop it from cutting off the circulation to your finger?

Every time I do a trick or a hand start the string’s slipknot gets tighter and tighter until my finger inevitably turns purple and I have to take it off and stop practicing for a few hours. Am I doing my tricks and starts too rough causing this, or is it normal and I’m just supposed to loosen the string every few tricks? Stopping every once in a while to constantly loosen the knot just seems to break focus for me.

2

put it on the place where your finger pivots.

3

You’ll have that. After about 2 months you should have callous aroung your middle finger. Just take more breaks, and loosen the string when it gets tight.
I broke a blood vessle in my middle finger when I started and found that binding my finger in scotch tape helped alot. I also tried athletic tape, and medical tape, but likes that I could still feel through the scotch tape and the string could slip around my finger without getting caught up like it did on the more grainy tapes. Hope that helps.

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4

Don’t throw so hard, and wait for a callous.

5

Also make sure you have your string attatched to your finger between your 2nd and 3rd knuckle instead of having the slipknot at the base of your finger. This helped me out when I first started

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6

you could use a bandaid also

7

Once you get a callous, it won’t hurt anymore.

8

“Wait for callouses to build up” got it, thanks for the advice everyone. I’ll keep practicing until then.

9

Yeah, it won’t hurt after awhile at all.

10

Oh, 1 last thing. Shortly after I started I switched from cotton 8 strings to slick 6 strings (50% cotton 50% poly). slicks seemed to be alot softer on my finger. If you want to try them out for yourself you can find them here http://shop.yoyoexpert.com/product/83/5-Pack-of-Yo-Yo-String

11

Make sure your slipknot is situated so that the double-stringed side of it is facing your ring finger.

| --|== |

^-- Index, pointer, ring. The horizontal lines are what the slipknot should look like around your middle finger. Know what I mean?

12

Personally, whenever I practice, I rip a tissue in half. Fold that have over 3 times (so it covers the part of my finger where the string goes), I wrap it around my finger, and i put the string on. Doesn’t even leave a mark and you can throw it harder (plus it doesn’t slip off of your finger. Good for finger grinds too [on your middle finger]).

13

Slap some athletic tape on your finger if it gets too bad. You will eventually build up a callous though.

14

i dont use a slip knot i just put the loop around my fringer. im only 12 so it probably wont fit in like 3 yrs so i dont use a slip knot=)

15

I would use a slip knot for sure! There are many advantages of a slip knot:

  1. you can tighten it so that it won’t fly off of your finger and break a window,lamp,TV,etc

2.It should be easier to take on and off.

3.It should be quicker to take on and off.

  1. I think it might help your throw because you will not be afraid of the yoyo flying off and breaking something. I don’t know about this last one for sure.

anyway, use a slip knot!

also for the problem with the string hurting your finger replace your string every day or two.
this will help so that the string does not get thin and hurt your finger.

One more thing :slight_smile: I think that you can buy special yo tape for this.

Hope this was of any help :wink:

16

yes a callous will really help. i have callouses on both my middle fingers