A 28-year-old woman in China narrowly survived after a post-dinner hula hoop workout caused her spleen to rupture, leaving doctors with no choice but to remove the organ during emergency surgery.
According to reports from Zhejiang University’s Fourth Affiliated Hospital, the woman, identified by the pseudonym Wang Tong, began exercising with a weighted hula hoop around 30 minutes after finishing dinner.
Shortly after starting the workout, she experienced severe pain in her upper left abdomen. Believing it was merely muscle soreness or indigestion, she endured the pain at home for several hours.
However, the pain became increasingly intense and was soon accompanied by dizziness. Concerned family members eventually called an ambulance and rushed her to hospital.
When she arrived at the emergency department shortly after 1am, doctors found she was pale, her lips had turned purple and her blood pressure had dropped to a dangerously low level, placing her in the early stages of haemorrhagic shock.
An ultrasound scan revealed a large amount of internal bleeding in her abdominal cavity, with more than 1,000 millilitres of blood reportedly accumulated inside her body.
During emergency surgery, doctors discovered that her spleen had been completely shattered and was actively bleeding. The lead surgeon described the damaged organ as resembling “crumbled blood tofu”. To save her life, surgeons were forced to remove the spleen entirely.
Doctors explained that the spleen is one of the most fragile organs in the abdomen and is highly vulnerable to blunt-force impact. In Wang’s case, exercising shortly after a meal likely increased pressure within the abdominal cavity and enlarged the blood-filled spleen, making it more susceptible to injury.
The hospital revealed that Wang was not an isolated case. Emergency physicians said they have recently treated three women suffering from spleen ruptures linked to weighted hula hoop workouts.
Medical experts are now urging the public to exercise caution when using weighted hula hoops. They recommend choosing hoops weighing less than one kilogram, limiting sessions to 15 minutes, avoiding workouts within two hours of eating and positioning the hoop lower on the waist to reduce impact near the spleen.
Doctors also warned that persistent pain in the upper left abdomen, dizziness, cold sweats or unexplained shoulder pain after exercise could indicate internal bleeding and should be treated as a medical emergency.
