What Is a Suspension Piercing?
A suspension piercing uses temporary large-gauge hooks placed through the skin to support a person's full body weight from a rig. The hooks are removed at the end of each session: suspension is not a permanent piercing. This guide covers the key positions, the cultural and performance art origins, the physical experience including the adrenaline and endorphin response, how it differs from permanent piercing and the risks involved.What Is a Suspension Piercing?
A suspension piercing is a temporary body modification in which large-gauge surgical hooks are placed through pinched folds of skin at multiple points on the body. These hooks are then attached to a rig via ropes or cables. The person is then lifted so that their full body weight is supported by the skin through the hooks. At the end of the session the hooks are removed: there is no permanent jewellery left in place. The temporary piercings close and heal like any other piercing wound after removal.
Suspension is meaningfully distinct from permanent piercing. Permanent piercings use standard jewellery designed to remain in the body and form a healed fistula. Suspension hooks are placed immediately before the session and removed immediately after. The piercing is a means to the suspension experience rather than a modification in itself. Suspension practitioners and permanent piercing specialists are often different communities with different training, though overlap exists.
Suspension has roots in indigenous ceremonial traditions across multiple cultures including the Okipa ceremony of the Mandan people of North America and Hindu festival practices in South Asia. The modern secular suspension community grew out of the body modification movement of the 1970s and 1980s, with pioneers including Fakir Musafar and Allen Falkner, who introduced suspension as a secular performance and personal experience activity. Today suspension is practised within body modification communities, performance art contexts and spiritual practice frameworks. It is an extreme modification activity with real risks that requires experienced facilitation by a trained suspension team.
Types of Suspension Position
What Does Suspension Feel Like?
The procedure begins with the suspension team placing hooks through pinched folds of skin at the pre-agreed hook points. The initial piercings feel like standard needle piercings: sharp and brief. After the hooks are in place the person is rigged to the apparatus and weight is gradually transferred to the hooks. The skin stretches to accommodate the load: this stretching creates a burning or pressure sensation often described as "burning in" the hooks as the tissue reaches full extension.
Once the skin has extended to support the body weight many participants describe the sensation as settling into a tight harness rather than acute pain. The body responds to the combination of pain and stress by releasing adrenaline and endorphins. This physiological response means the experience during the suspension itself is often significantly different from what is anticipated beforehand: many participants report euphoria, calm or an altered state during the suspension even at their first session. The mental challenge of allowing body weight to transfer to hooks in skin is often described as harder than the physical experience.
Skin is considerably stronger than most people expect: a single well-placed hook is capable of supporting hundreds of kilograms and most suspensions use two or more hooks, making the physics of weight distribution very conservative relative to the tensile strength of healthy skin. Tearing does occur, particularly in more delicate skin areas such as the knees and forearms, usually when excessive force or aggressive movement is involved. A skilled suspension team monitors for tearing throughout and brings the session to a safe close if the skin at any hook point shows signs of pulling through.
What Are the Risks of Suspension?
The risks of suspension include infection at hook sites, skin tearing particularly at more delicate placement points, excessive bleeding, fainting during or after the procedure, subcutaneous air (air trapped under the skin from the hook channels, which is uncomfortable but not dangerous) as well as bruising and soreness lasting several days to weeks after the session. In rare cases nerve damage at hook sites has been reported.
| Risk | How Common | Prevention |
|---|---|---|
| Infection at hook sites | Possible with poor hygiene | Strict aseptic technique by team; proper wound care after session |
| Skin tearing | Occurs occasionally at fragile sites | Experienced team; avoid aggressive movement; proper hook gauge and placement |
| Fainting | Not uncommon at first sessions | Eat before session; team monitors throughout; gradual weight transfer |
| Subcutaneous air | Fairly common post-session | Not preventable; resolves on its own; not life-threatening |
| Bruising and soreness | Universal | Plan recovery days after any session |
Never attempt suspension without an experienced, trained team. Never suspend alone. The team should include at minimum an experienced rigger and a piercer familiar with suspension hook placement. First aid capability on site is standard practice for professional suspension teams. Do not take alcohol or recreational drugs before a suspension session.
For permanent extreme genital piercings including corset piercing and dermal piercing information, visit the Corset Piercing guide. For every piercing type in one resource, visit the Piercing Types Explained hub.
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What to Do After a Suspension Session
After the hooks are removed, the team will clean each hook site and apply simple wound dressings. The hook sites bleed briefly and then close. Each site heals like a standard needle piercing: clean with sterile saline twice daily, pat dry and keep clean. Most hook sites are fully closed within a week to ten days. Scarring at hook sites is normal and many regular suspension practitioners consider their hook site scars part of their practice record.
Plan rest days after any suspension session. The physical and physiological intensity of a suspension session is significant regardless of how the experience felt in the moment: the adrenaline and endorphin response during the session can mask soreness and fatigue that emerges fully in the 24 to 48 hours following. Eat a full meal after the session and stay well hydrated. Most people feel physical soreness and emotional processing for several days after their first suspension.
Watch hook sites for signs of infection: increasing redness, warmth, swelling or discharge in the days after a session are signs to see a GP promptly. Subcutaneous air, if present, typically disperses within several days without intervention. If bruising is extensive or a hook site appears to have produced a deep tear rather than a surface wound, seek medical assessment.
For a complete guide to every piercing type including extreme and performance modification, visit the Piercing Types Explained hub at OSCO London, covering all placements from suspension through to ear cartilage and facial piercings.