‘Actually one of my biggest fears’: Woman wears Oura Ring to hot yoga class. Then she tries to take her ring off
The Oura Ring blew up among wellness-minded individuals in 2024. But one fan of the device is now warning users of an unintended consequence of wearing the ring.
TikTok user Tess Mendelson posted her unfortunate experience with an Oura Ring on Jan. 17.
In a video posted to her TikTok account @tessmendelson, Mendelson shows viewers how her Oura Ring got stuck on her finger.
After a seemingly normal hot yoga class, Mendelson noticed her finger donning the Oura Ring was slightly swollen.
Hoping the swelling would quell in a couple of hours, the TikToker didn’t pay it any mind. But a couple of hours later, her finger was still swollen and slightly discolored.
She tried everything from soaking her hand in dish soap to the ‘string’ method—which involves tightly wrapping thread around your finger—to guide the ring off.
Yet, to no avail was Mendelson able to remove her ring, leaving her with one option: the emergency room.
What is an Oura Ring?
An Oura Ring is a smart ring that collects data on more than 20 different biometrics to track your well-being.
Unlike a fitness tracker, like an Apple watch, which may only display your data, Oura optimizes your data into a daily score. The score is on a scale from one to 100 and across three categories: activity, readiness, and sleep.
Owned by the Finnish health tech company Oura, the Oura Ring's daily scores help users navigate their day.
For example, if you wake up with a low sleep score, the associated app that displays and calculates your data may encourage you to get a couple more hours of sleep.
In Mendelson's case, she used her Oura Ring to track her activity during her hot yoga class. The activity score regards any daily movements including steps, active calories, training frequency, etc.
The ring automatically detects any physical activity and through the app, you can set daily goals to work towards.
Why did her finger swell with the ring?
Mendelson’s experience is not as uncommon as you might think.
“My fingers swell when working out too, girl this would have happened to me,” one user commented.
Other users commented on her post sharing similar experiences with the Oura ring and other rings in general.
According to Dr. Edward R. Laskowski's response to Mayo Clinic, hand swelling during exercise is quite common.
There are a few reasons why her hands may have swelled. One is the concentration of blood flow. More blood circulates the heart, lungs, and muscles as you’re working out. This draws blood away from your hands and makes them feel cooler. The blood vessels in your hands expand in response which constitutes the swelling.
On the other hand, and more likely the scenario is Mendelson’s case, since your muscles produce heat as you exercise the blood vessels closest to the skin to release heat.
Since Tess was taking a hot yoga class, this may have been the case.
@tessmendelson Sharing my truth ????????????
♬ lifes incredible again - noelle ????✨
What is an Oura Ring alternative?
Unfortunately, Mendelson had the Oura Ring cut off of her finger by medical professionals; ultimately destroying an expensive piece of health tracking equipment. The Oura Ring Gen3 starts at $249, while the newest model, the Oura Ring 4, starts at $349.
On the other hand, other health-tracking rings designed differently may prevent it from getting stuck if your hand does swell, as several commenters pointed out.
One user suggested, “Look into an Evie ring [because] it’s got a split in it to prevent this.”
The Evie Ring's software is very similar to Oura's, however, the ring has a slight gap in the band. The gap may prevent users like Tess from getting stuck since the ring has space to expand around a user's finger in case of swelling.
Tess noted that she doesn’t blame Oura for her finger swelling and was happy to have her finger back.
The Daily Dot reached out to Tess Mendelson via TikTok DM and to Oura Ring, Inc. via a contact form.
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