(don't laugh) Help! Deadlifts hurt my pinky finger!

I have extremely tiny hands.  As in, my hands stopped growing when I was eleven years old (which is also when I stopped getting taller).  My pinky fingers are also really tiny even in comparison to my tiny hands--I think they are barely 2 inches long, maybe even a bit shorter than that.

When I'm doing deadlifts, my pinky hurts almost unbearably after a few reps because the bar (and all that weight) presses on the top of my pinky finger, pulling the skin and flesh away from the fingernail.  It feels like someone is ripping my fingernail out by its roots!  I've tried overhand and underhand grip, but neither makes a difference.  It seems that the way my hands are shaped, the oly bar just happens to hit right in the wrong place for that finger.

Can anyone help me figure this out?  Would it help to tape my pinky fingertips up before lifting or something?

Try gloves [weight lifting gloves] or straps.

I use Lynx grips when lifting.  They are just curved hunks of rubber that didn't cost me too much at a local sporting store. 

I like them a lot better than the gloves I had previously, but I'm not sure if they would help you or not. 

I'm guessing here... but are you having trouble gripping the bar?  Is it rolling down and being held by your hooked fingers?  Maybe you could try a "hook grip" to keep the bar in the palm of your hand?  Basically you wrap your thumb around the bar and then wrap your fingers (or the ends of 2-3 of them over the thumb to help with your grip? 

Those are some good alternatives Karozel but I suspect if her pinkie is as small as she states, it will still be the odd man out.

But, yah..try grips, straps, gloves..whatever seems to work for ya. Sounds more like pinched skin than a grip problem though..so, I think gloves may work since your skin is covered.

Sorry, I'm still confused.  Really! I just don't understand...   and I'm trying...

When doing deadlifts with a pronated grip, how is the weight pressing on the top of the pinkie finger pulling the skin away from the fingernail?  Unless it is rolling out to the tips of her fingers because her grip is failing? 

And if it is, how are gloves going to help unless it's to help keep the bar in her palm and not rolling out? 

The weight lifting gloves I found had cut-out fingers, so I'm not sure how that would help.  I don't get how it could be pinching either.  The gloves drove me crazy because they actually would bunch up and pinch at the base of my fingers where they met the palm. 

My hands aren't big, but I measured my pinkies and they are about 2 inches as well.  My ring finger is about 2.75 inches, so yeah, the pinkie is a lot shorter but I don't see how it's a problem?????

I think the weight is just heavy. She is small...her hands are smaller...her pinkie is even smaller...no matter her grip...taken in account she is gripping properly, her pinkie may be the guy left out of the party..forcing her to manipulate it...causing it to be in a forced/pinched position...pinching the skin. I THINK I understand what she is trying to explain..but I'm with you, Karozel...I'm confused...just going on what I think she is explaining.

Fitnessgirll has it right... no matter how I grip, that pinkie gets pinched--and it's the skin that's pinching.  I'm wearing gloves already, but they're fingerless and do nothing for the pinkie.  I've tried (overhand) hook grips and turning that hand around (underhand) but it still pinches.

Also, I can't wrap my thumb over my other fingers because my hand's not big enough to do that--my thumb can barely even touch my middle finger's tip around the oly bar.

Regular dumbbells and such are no problem.  It's just the oly bar I have trouble with because it's got a larger girth than the other bars.

So, would straps maybe help because they'd take some of the pressure off my pinkie?  Or would it work if I just put tape around it so that the skin doesn't pull?