Sorry for taking so long to get back to you after our recent telephone conversation regarding the weighted hula hoop you sell through Sainsbury's.
I purchased one of the hoops at the Crayford store.
I go to the gym, do a weekly 5k park run and attend pilates, so I am a fit person and was wearing my gym wear when I tried the hoop. I was astonished how painful it was to use. As it is a fixed size I thought that maybe the one size fits all was not a good idea as I have a small frame. The pain was not only caused by the balls set into the hoop hitting different parts of my back, spine and ribs but also as it hit my shins when I tried to stop the hoop and it dropped, and also my wrists when I tried to catch it to save it from hitting my shins.
The following day I asked my daughter to try it to get her opinion. My daughter has run 5 marathons and attends one to one Thai boxing lessons, so is not only fit but pretty tough too. She tried it once found it very painful and it hurt her wrist too. She refused to try it again and suggested I threw it out as it was dangerous. When I went to my pilates class I took it with me to see what my instructor thought. She couldn't believe that it was being sold and thought it was dangerous and told me not to try it again.
By this point I had a bruise on my left wrist and another on my right shin. I also had a problem with my ribs on my right side. I was finding it very painful to take a deep breath in and almost impossible to lay down in any position as it was so painful. I hadn't experienced anything like this before and waited a few days to see if it eased. As there was no change I went to the doctors who gave me anti biotics and anti inflamitory tablets as she wasn't sure of the cause of the pain. She told me to return to the surgery the following week if there was no change.
I returned to the surgery and was sent to A&E. where I was given an ECG, blood tests and an X-ray. Nothing could be found to be causing so much pain. The doctor asked what sport I do and asked if I could have hurt myself in training. I had not done anything different than usual except using the hula hoop.
I went to see an Osteopath who said I had damaged a part of my rib that joins to cartilage. Sorry for not being more specific, I should have asked her to write it down for me, but the type of injury is not important it is the fact the hula hoop could cause it.
I have never experienced anything like this before and was told like a sprained ankle it can take weeks to improve. It has , after a second visit to the Osteopath and a couple more weeks, now improved.
I strongly advise you stop the sale of these hoops. I think I am lucky not to have injured myself further as I am sure hard plastic balls hitting your spine at speed really is a disaster waiting to happen. I am shocked you havent received many mails saying the same.
I used the hoop for a very short time and ended up with bruises and a damaged rib. My daughter and pilates teacher refused to use the hoop more than once due to the pain of use and the fact that they both thought it was a dangerous piece of equipment.
I can't express how shocked I am that this hoop was deemed suitable to be sold. The box states 'releives stress with fun fitness' I can only imagine whoever wrote that had not tried using the hoop.
I have taken unnessessary anti biotics, taken lots of painkillers, had an unnessessary X-ray, spent two mornings at the doctors surgery, several hours in A&E, spent £100.00 on two osteopath appointments plus paid prescription charges, received two bruises and spent at least three weeks in pain and unable to sleep.
The information on the bar code is 715280 706459 also it has the number 4294 made in China.