Your neck has been off since November — and winter is far from over

Why a Viennese winter goes straight to the neck and shoulders — and what helps before it is March.

Half past six in the morning, dark outside, and getting up your head will not turn all the way to the left.

In October it was not like that.

It started in November, when it suddenly got dark before half past four. Since then every day has been a little more like the one before: to work in the dark, home in the dark.

If that sounds familiar, you are not the only one. From November to March we hear that sentence almost every day — from people who had nothing wrong with them in summer.

Why winter catches almost everyone

Two things come together, and neither is dramatic.

You brace all day. At the tram stop your shoulders go up, your hands are in your pockets, your head sits down between your shoulders. Four minutes until the tram comes. The same again in the evening. And on the tram the shoulders stay up, because it does not get warm in there straight away either.

And you move less. In summer you would walk down to the Donaukanal after work. In November you go home.

That is all it is. But it is enough.

The problem is not the one day

A stiff neck on Tuesday is no great matter. The problem is that it is still there on Wednesday. And the week after that.

And then what we see most often happens: you get used to it. You simply stop turning your head all the way. You stop reaching back to the rear seat. At some point you no longer notice.

And in May it is still there.

What we do most in winter

You do not have to decide in advance. Tell us at the appointment what you feel and we will suggest something. So that you have a picture of it anyway:

If you have been cold for weeks: cold hands, cold feet, and you sit in the office in a jumper while everyone else is in a T-shirt.

Moxa massage works with the heat of smouldering mugwort over particular points; in the understanding of Traditional Chinese Medicine this draws cold out of the body. If you prefer it over a wider area: hot stone massage, hot basalt stones that give off their warmth evenly across a whole hour. 60 minutes, 80 euros.

If the neck is the problem: shoulders pulled up, the head not turning fully, and the pressure behind the eyes in the afternoon.

Neck, back and lumbar massage, 60 minutes, 65 euros. If it may be firmer and the spot has been sitting there a while: Tuina, same price, distinctly deeper.

If your legs are heavy: sitting indoors all winter, and by evening they feel full.

Foot reflexology, 60 minutes with a warm foot bath, 65 euros. Or manual lymphatic drainage, if it should be gentle: feather-light, rhythmic strokes, almost without pressure.

How often, so that it holds

The question comes up almost every time.

A single massage is pleasant and lasts a few days. If you want it to carry you through the winter, come at intervals. In the cold months our regulars mostly come every two to three weeks — regularly, rather than once when it has already got past bearing.

This is not a course of treatment with fixed dates. It is the difference between “I go when I cannot stand it any more” and “I go before it gets that far”.

At half past eight in the evening

From November into January it is dark before half past four, and if you get out of work at six, everything is already shut.

We are open daily from 9 am to 10 pm, weekends included. Two minutes from Schwedenplatz, U1 and U4. You can come after work without having to take time off.

If you have a doctor's referral

People see the doctor more often in winter, and sometimes they come out with a referral for therapeutic massage.

You then choose the treatment and the length as usual, the price is the one from the list, and you also receive an invoice you can submit with the referral to ÖGK, SVS or BVAEB. Whether and how much comes back is decided by your insurer.

And if you cannot decide: tell us when you get here. That is exactly what we are for.