Does rubbing really help?

In your experience does rubbing really help after a severe spanking or particularly after a strapping or caning? If so, is there an effective method you have used to alleviate the discomfort during the immediate aftermath; that is if you were permitted to do so? I have seen one spanking model called Anita (SpankingOnLine)begin by just pressing her hands to her red-striped bottom to hold it gently for a little while. You can see by her facial expressions and audible sighs that this seems to help. But apparently after a few moments simply pressing her hands to her flaming bottom just isn't offering enough relief. So after feeling the heat with the other side of her hands she follows this by a cupping and lifting motion with a cheek in each hand and finally she rubs vigorously across both cheeks with one hand and then the other, She then repeats the process, except this time she starts by cupping a cheek in each hand and slightly pulling them apart and then she searches for the individual welts and once found, she almost lovingly rubs her fingers over the their length which spans the full width of both her cute cheeks. Is what she is doing just something that comes natural? Is she being told to do it this way by the video's director, or has she, as an experienced spanking model simply picked up some valuable trick of the trade? The more I learn about the world of spanking and caning, the more curious I become.

It certainly seemed to at school. That and sitting on the loo immediately after. I guess we were rather unsophisticated in those days and weren't aware of the subtle techniques described by SC.

It never did me any good after any real-life spankings

It sure is fun to watch, but I don't believe it makes much difference.

Yes, it helps, but maybe it is psychological.

I think rubbing is a hard-wired human reaction to most any minor flesh trauma, so it's hard to believe that there's not some physical reason why we do it.

I tend to think the mild heat from the hand rubbing tends to be what FiBlue calls psychological. I think something cold on it might be more beneficial just as we do with a burn of some kind.

I think it's more psychological than anything, but I have to admit it does feel good after a sound spanking.

Rubbing does help to a minor degree. What do you do when you bang any part of your body? Instinctively you rub it. Rubbing produces other signals that partially interfere with the pain signals that are sent to the brain.

Not only rubbing but there are other ways of interfering with those pain signals as well. When someone is strapped or caned on their hands often they wring their hands or press them tightly under their armpits. The effect is only temporary but it slightly alleviates the immediate intense pain.

Thank you all for your quick replies and insight. I can't remember if it really made anything better or not when I was often "catching it," either at school or at home as a kid. When spanked as an adult in my 20s, I did what I could to accentuate the stinging and smarting sensations which greatly enhanced the sex that soon followed and that tended to make my spanker a very happy woman indeed. Her favorite saying was "the redder the better."