Traditional materials for hula hoops include willow, rattan (a flexible and strong vine), grapevines and stiff grasses.

[citation needed] Before it was known and recognized as the common colorful plastic toy (sometimes filled with water or sand), the traditional "hula hoop" was made of dried willow, rattan, grapevines, or stiff grasses.

He reports that doctors treated patients with pain, dislocated backs, and even heart failure due to hooping.

[5] The hula hoop gained international popularity in the late 1950s, when a plastic version was successfully marketed by California's Wham-O toy company.

In 1957, children in the Norwegian town of Steinkjer began a fad described in the English press as "rock-rings", with the description being "These are huge cane rings which little girls swing round their bodies by moving their hips and arms."

Australia's Coles department stores then started selling bamboo hoops and demand soon outstripped supply.

When Wham-O told Toltoys the hoop was too generic to warrant a royalty, Alex Tolmer instead asked the US company to sponsor one bed in an Australian children's hospital.

[citation needed] Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin of Wham-O updated the Toltoys design and manufactured 110 cm (42 in) diameter hoops from Marlex plastic.

The earliest known advertisement was seen for the "Hula-Hoop by Wham-O" was seen on June 16, 1958 for "The Broadway" chain of department stores in Los Angeles, for sale for $1.98 [10] (equivalent to $20 more than 60 years later).

Saddled with a glut of unwanted Hula Hoops, Wham-O stopped manufacturing the toy until 1965, when Knerr and Melin came up with a new twist: They inserted ball bearings in the cylinder to make a "shoosh" sound.

The jam band The String Cheese Incident is widely credited with fostering a renewed interest in hooping.

[citation needed] Many modern hoopers make their own hoops out of PVC piping, or polypropylene tubing (known as polypro).

Some use glow-in-the dark, patterned, or sparkling tape, and others are produced with clear tubing and are unfilled (child hoops are commonly filled with various materials).