--- title: 'When the healing gallery gets under your skin - Gastein Healing Gallery' url: 'https://www.gasteiner-heilstollen.com/en/magazin/when-the-healing-gallery-gets-under-your-skin/' description: "Bechterew's disease patient Günther talks about his experiences and why he had the healing gallery logo tattooed on his shoulder." image: 'https://www.gasteiner-heilstollen.com/fileadmin/_processed_/9/4/csm_gruber-g%C3%BCnther-tatoo_af778ca9fe.webp' date: '2025-10-01' modified: '2025-10-01' lastUpdated: '2025-11-24' type: website site: 'Gasteiner Heilstollen' --- # When the healing gallery gets under your skin - Gastein Healing Gallery When the healing gallery gets under your skin ============================================= tattoo ------ Bechterew's disease patient Günther talks about his experiences and why he had the healing gallery logo tattooed on his shoulder. The Gastein Healing Gallery has a very special meaning for some patients – and is an integral part of their lives. This is also reflected in some extraordinary actions: one couple got married in the Healing Gallery, another patient wrote an extraordinary tribute in the form of the Healing Gallery Song, and yet another even paid homage to the Healing Gallery with his own book. The reason lies in the extraordinary healing effects of the tunnel on these patients, who all say that the treatments in the healing gallery have changed their lives – and made them more worth living. This is also confirmed by Günther Gruber, a long-time guest at the Gastein Healing Gallery. This year, he had the Healing Gallery logo tattooed on his shoulder. "What could be more fitting than the symbol of the natural remedy that has accompanied me for more than half my life? The tunnel is simply part of me, it is who I am, and the tattoo is as unique as the tunnel itself – it's just a perfect match! And everyone should and can see that," he explains his extraordinary declaration of love for the healing gallery. We talked to him about his experiences: --- Dear Mr. Gruber, you have been coming to the healing gallery for almost 30 years. Back then, you were just 22 years old. How did that come about? ![Portrait of Bechterew's disease patient Gruber Guenther in the Gastein Healing Gallery.](https://www.gasteiner-heilstollen.com/fileadmin/_processed_/8/8/csm_gruber-guenther-morbus-bechterew-gasteiner-heilstollen_a1317babde.webp " ") "At the age of 16/17, I always struggled with severe lower back pain in the lumbar region, which as a bricklayer was initially attributed to the unfamiliar physical work and my somewhat fuller figure. But even though I then lost almost 20 kilos, the pain remained. At the age of 21, I went to Bad Ischl for rehabilitation. However, I was treated incorrectly and 'stretched' there – which is of course fatal for Bechterew's disease, but at that point I didn't know that this was the name for my condition. The symptoms worsened and I finally went to the rheumatology clinic, where I was finally given the correct diagnosis. Shortly afterwards, I went to the Gastein Healing Gallery, when I was 22 years old. Since then, they have been on a health retreat every year—25 times in total—and the healing gallery seems to have helped them. That's right, I can no longer imagine life without the healing gallery. For me, it is the most important remedy and, along with daily exercise and plenty of movement in my everyday life, it helps me to live with the disease with just one tablet a day. The effect varies slightly from patient to patient. How do you perceive the healing effect of the healing gallery? "Even after so many visits, I can only say that it's different for me every year. Sometimes, like this year, I feel the effect immediately after the first visit, but sometimes I only notice it much later. But in the end, it's always the same: I have less pain. Sometimes I'm pain-free right after the treatment, but sometimes it takes three to four weeks." ![The loungers in the Gastein Healing Gallery at Station 1](https://www.gasteiner-heilstollen.com/fileadmin/_processed_/a/2/csm_liegen-im-heilstollen-02_d86389e53f.webp) What was it like for you to go into the healing gallery at such a young age? "Of course, that was a bit strange for me as a young man. Most of the other patients were significantly older; I think the youngest were in their late 30s—for a young man like me at the time, that was already old, and I felt a bit like an oddity. But it also helped me a lot, because I could see some of the effects of the disease, such as spinal deformity, and had to come to terms with what the disease can look like in old age. At the hotel where I was staying for treatment, there was also a group of Bechterew's disease patients who welcomed me warmly. Talking to them did me a lot of good and was also immensely important for me." Now that you are an old hand at spa treatments in the healing gallery, what advice would you give to others? The two most important things for Bechterew's disease are the healing gallery and plenty of exercise. Gymnastics is part of my daily routine. I get up at 4:00 a.m. and do my daily exercises before work at 4:20 a.m. Even though I'm not 100 percent healthy, of course, the combination of the healing gallery and exercise has meant that I can really do anything. Maybe it's a little more strenuous for me than for a healthy person, but I can do everything and have always been employed." Did we finance your treatments? "I always had the treatments paid for by the PVA (editor's note: pension fund in Germany) with a contribution towards the costs. This year, my application was rejected, but after appealing, I was allowed to go after all. But I always say that if you don't get it paid for, you should go at your own expense. Because once you're stiff, nothing else will help." So how did you come to have the healing gallery logo tattooed on your shoulder this year? For 30 years, I've wanted to get a tattoo and have thought long and hard about what it should be. But somehow, I could never come up with the right design. Until this year's 70th anniversary of the Gastein Healing Gallery, when it suddenly became clear to me – it would be the Healing Gallery logo. I belong to the healing gallery and the healing gallery belongs to me – I said to myself and went to the tattoo artist. After I told him my story about Bechterew's disease, he said to me that the tattoo was something very special, something that no one else has. And now it adorns my shoulder! Thank you very much for the open conversation. --- More posts ---------- [![A patient with rheumatoid arthritis looks out of the train compartment with other patients and smiles.](https://www.gasteiner-heilstollen.com/fileadmin/_processed_/1/4/csm_patientin-rheumatoide-arthritis-schaut-aus-zugabteil-gasteiner-heilstollen_9f1fd5f712.webp)](https://www.gasteiner-heilstollen.com/en/magazin/how-the-healing-gallery-helps-with-rheumatoid-arthritis-and-ankylosing-spondylitis/) [How the healing gallery helps with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis](https://www.gasteiner-heilstollen.com/en/magazin/how-the-healing-gallery-helps-with-rheumatoid-arthritis-and-ankylosing-spondylitis/) [![Patient with Bechterew's disease sits on a locomotive in the Gastein Healing 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