Personally, I'd give it a day or so to heal a bit. You don't want to feel worse. But then again, I hate pain....
And the phrase "No pain, no gain." is actually really bad advice. Pain is a signal your body gives to you that something is wrong.
So, gove yourself a break. You're not a wuss if you take a day off. :)

Cheers!

hi yolande,

i'm new to hooping too, and i have had exactly the same problem, with very scary bruises on my hips, elbows and left shoulder. one of the first times i hooped and was trying to learn tricks, i was spinning the hoop around my hand for hours and didn't realise i could hurt myself - in the morning my hand was totally swollen and extremely painful. i was actually afraid i had damaged the bones, but it healed up ok with some sleep and vit c.

since then, if i get bruises i will take a break for a day or two until they start to go away. when i go back to hooping i will hoop for shorter periods of time - it seems that 1/2 hr of hooping each day is not too bad for bruising, but more than an hour means that i will probably be sore the next day, especially if i am trying new things.

hope you're back to hooping soon!

I say definitely take a break! The body needs time to heal, and once it has, you will be less likely to bruise so badly next time. However, if you keep hooping over an area that is experiencing acute inflammation then it will take longer to heal.

Instead, try gentle yoga poses, or hand and off-the-body hooping, and spend time honoring your body for learning something new. You won't have to rest for long.

The back of my hand feels the most damage. I usually have to take a few days off hand hooping after. Didn't I see at one time that someone (maybe Christabel?) offered handmade fingerless gloves with a bit of padding on the backside? I've tried taping, this isn't a good solution. Would love to try some gloves that don't won't interfere with tricks.