# How come backrubs are so pleasurable ?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-backrubs-are-so-pleasurable/558456>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 26, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-backrubs-are-so-pleasurable/558456 "2010-10-26T23:30:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-backrubs-are-so-pleasurable/558456/1 "2010-10-26T23:30:35Z")

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My SO and I both agree that a good mutual back scratching session is better than bad sex. I dimly remember a similar opinion behind reached in IMHO a while back (though it could have been on an entirely different forum, too. Beer drinking does that to your noggin’ :)).

The question is why ? Why does getting one’s back scratched feel so good, and why does scratching other body parts not trigger the same pleasing sensations ?

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**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-backrubs-are-so-pleasurable/558456/2 "2010-10-26T23:56:45Z")

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I don’t dislike a backrup but I’d rather have my back scratched then rubbed. I’m like a cat that way, I love to get my back scratched. If I win the lotto, then someone is gonna have a job as my personal back scratcher

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**Author:** ![Larzipan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@Larzipan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larzipan)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-backrubs-are-so-pleasurable/558456/3 "2010-10-26T23:59:24Z")

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I don’t find either back scratches or back rubs pleasurable, so I have no idea.

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**Author:** ![Nunavut\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e95f7d/32.png) [@Nunavut\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunavut_Boy)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-backrubs-are-so-pleasurable/558456/4 "2010-10-27T03:26:51Z")

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Yeah, I don’t really like being touched at all unless it will lead to…uh…‘special time’ if you know what I mean.

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**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-backrubs-are-so-pleasurable/558456/5 "2010-10-27T03:38:10Z")

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I’m going to make the perhaps unwarranted assumption that you (the OP) are human. Assuming that to be true, I’d say the answer has to do with our primate past, when we’d all sit around the savanna and groom each other. Couple that with what Nunavut Boy says (pair bonding and intimacy and all that) and I’d say that’s going to be close to the answer.

Personally, my wife likes me to comb her hair, and a back rub is more a caress than a rub in the XT household, but I think it’s all part of the same thing…

(that’s my WAG anyway, FWIW)

-XT