The truth behind those shocking viral photos of a hairdresser's 'back injuries'

This week, a picture of a hairdresser’s back went viral after her massage therapist shared what appeared to be horrific injuries she'd obtained from hunching over all day.

Hitesh Patel, a masseur from Leicester, posted a photo of his client’s back on Facebook after treating her for back pain.

But it has since emerged that the large red blemishes formed only after the woman had been treated, as a natural side-effect of Gua Sha massage. To shut down claims that the red marks were caused directly by hairdressing, Mr Patel has now deleted the Facebook post.

According to Mr Patel, the marks are the signs of toxins being released from a muscle tissue called petechiae. This is “basic anatomy”, he said.

The Gua Sha massage, a form of Chinese medicine, is a type of natural therapy that involves scraping your skin with a massage tool to improve circulation and reduce inflammation.

“You only get the marking appearing where you have stagnation in that muscle group,” Mr Patel told the Standard.

“If it's a light pink colour it just shows normal everyday fatigue, the darker the colour going to purple and black shows more old stubborn damaged tissue."

So the red marks are not actually a direct result of hairdressing, but an indication of the problem muscle areas brought out by massage.

"Once it comes up and you’re massaged, you're flushing the area with fresh new blood and artificially stimulating and system to make that particular area repair faster,” Mr Patel said.

He added that the media had not painted a “true picture” of what his client was really experiencing.

But he hopes the pictures will awareness of natural therapy for chronic pain: “A lot of people with aches and pains have reached out, and although they've not had Gua Sha treatment I have been able to give them lots of information and advice for their conditions.”

The redness and indentation produced by Gua Sha is temporary, but the massage is not recommended for people with blood clotting disorders.