When the massage only lasts two days: cupping for a tight back

Why some hardened spots are back after two days, and what runs differently with cupping.

September takes it out on the back.

The last hike, the cycling weekend, the garden that needs sorting before winter, and on top of that the first week back at a desk for eight hours. And then there is that spot under the shoulder blade that feels like a stone.

You have already been for a massage. It was good afterwards — for two days. On the third it was back.

That is the point at which we reach for the glass.

Why pulling is not the same as pressing

In a massage, hands press on the muscle from the outside. In cupping, the suction in the glass does the opposite: it draws the skin and the tissue underneath it upwards.

That is the whole difference, and the reason we use it where pressing has been tried several times and has not got far. Stubborn spots in the back, shoulders after overdoing it, the ache after the last weekend in the mountains: those are the reasons people come to us for it.

What it feels like

The question always comes before a first treatment. The honest answer, in order:

The first seconds. The pull is strongest right at the start. You feel the skin being drawn upwards. On thin or sensitive spots that can sting briefly or press noticeably.

While the glass sits. The pulling eases off as the body settles into it. What remains is warmth in waves and a deep drawing sensation, roughly like someone pressing firmly on a tense muscle. Where something really is tight, you feel it most clearly.

When the glass comes off. The spot releases all at once. Most people describe it as relief: warm, light, as though something had been switched off. Some feel tired for a few hours afterwards. That happens too, and it passes by itself.

Tell us at any point if it is too much. We ease off immediately.

The marks: three to seven days

Yes, round marks stay behind. The suction draws blood into the upper layers of the skin, and that is what you see, exactly where the glass sat.

Three to seven days, then they are gone completely. How quickly exactly depends on the individual, on how fast their body clears something like this, and on how dark the mark turned out in the first place.

On the back, nobody sees them under a shirt. If something is coming up next week anyway — a wedding, photographs, a holiday by the sea — tell us beforehand. Then we work more lightly, or we do something else that day: classic massage leaves no marks, and neither does Tuina.

Afterwards

Sauna, swimming pool and hard training do not belong to that day. What does: warmth, quiet, something to drink, an early night.

Please tell us this beforehand

Briefly, before we start. It takes a minute and it decides whether we cup or do something else:

• The skin at that spot is injured, freshly sunburnt or grazed.
• You are prone to circulatory trouble or get dizzy easily.
• You have a heart condition or take medication that acts on the heart and circulation.
• You have eczema or psoriasis at the spot to be treated.
• You are pregnant or under medical treatment.

None of that is automatically a no. It only changes where and how firmly we work — and sometimes that we would rather stay with the hands that day.

Open daily from 9 am to 10 pm, two minutes from Schwedenplatz.