All body weight is supported off the floor.
Back to the glossarySensation & activity
Suspension bondage
Advanced bondage in which equipment supports some or all of an adult participant's body weight above the floor, creating serious fall, compression, circulation and rescue risks.
Sensation & activity
In brief
Suspension is a life-safety system requiring in-person competence and independent rescue capability.
Suspension is not simply floor bondage performed higher up. Partial suspension can still load nerves and create a fall, while full suspension makes the entire support system life-critical. Rope, harnesses, connectors, anchors, structure, geometry, bodies and rescue capability form one system whose weakest element can fail. This glossary describes risks and boundaries but intentionally provides no rigging instruction.
Some body contact remains, but equipment still carries meaningful load and a fall may occur.
Restraint without intentional body-weight suspension; it retains nerve and circulation risks.
Professional or artistic aerial systems governed by different training, equipment and workplace contexts.
Training and system integrity
Seek qualified in-person instruction before suspension. Ratings must cover each component, direction and configuration, including the building structure and dynamic movement.
Do not use decorative hardware, unknown anchors or improvised household fixtures. Inspection history and retirement criteria matter even when equipment looks intact.
Nerves, circulation and consciousness
Compression neuropathy can cause numbness, tingling, burning, weakness or loss of movement and may take months to recover. Pain alone is not an adequate warning.
Faintness, breathing change, confusion, colour change or neurological symptoms require immediate controlled lowering and appropriate medical assessment.
Consent and monitoring
Agree the broad form, limits, signals, photography and stop criteria, but retain authority to abort whenever conditions change. Altered states or reduced speech are not evidence of continuing consent.
Continuous one-to-one attention is essential. Never leave a suspended person alone or depend on them to perform their own rescue.
Rescue and evidence limits
A rescue plan must work if the rigger, bottom, primary line or power source fails. Appropriate cutting or lowering equipment must be immediately usable without creating an uncontrolled fall.
Published injury evidence is based on small samples and cases, so incidence is unknown. Lack of symptoms in prior suspensions does not demonstrate future safety.
Non-graphic examples
What the umbrella may include
- Keeping suspension out of self-taught experimentation.
- Including the ceiling structure in the load assessment.
- Lowering immediately after hand weakness.
- Using an independent trained spotter and rescue plan.
- Choosing floor-based practice while developing competence.
Reviewed 30 August 2026
Keep exploring.
This detailed field note uses the best available evidence without treating one community sample as universal. Evidence limits and UK context are stated where relevant.
Prepared by The UK Kink Guide editorial team. Read the evidence and review methodology.
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