Everyone carries a different tolerance for pain, and ardent tattoo enthusiasts tend to believe that pain is a small price to pay for a permanent piece of living, moving art.

However, one’s tattooing experience shouldn’t feel like torture, and it’s only natural to want to avoid certain areas in favor of comfort.

While fleshier regions of the body-such as the arms, upper back, shoulders, and thighs-are relatively low on the pain litmus, bonier areas can be more problematic for some. The elbows, spine, chest, knees, ankles, and feet are famously more prone to pain, with the sides of the torso also susceptible due to delicate nerve endings.

Where the skin is thinner and closer to the bone, the needle’s movements will reverberate at a more intense volume, resulting in potential discomfort. It’s typically recommended that one get their first tattoo in a pain-free zone to avoid a negative introduction to what is sure to be a lifetime passion.

You can also request that your tattoo artist take breaks throughout the procedure to allow you to catch your breath and rest from the adrenaline rush.

A tattoo is a lifetime commitment, and while memories of pain may fade by comparison, there’s no shame in wanting to spare one’s self any unnecessary duress. From start to completion, a tattoo is an experience to savor, rather than endure.

With that said, go ahead and explore the top 15 most painful places to get a tattoo below. You’ll discover where it hurts the worst, alongside where bone and nerve endings will plague you with plenty of pain!

Elbow

Anyone who has ever bumped an elbow and experienced the fireworks of nerve pain down the entire arm knows this is a sensitive spot. Because there’s no protective muscle between the skin and bone here, the elbow ranks fairly high on the pain scale. Without any cushion between the needle and the bone, when getting the elbow tattooed, you’re going to feel the pain of the needle pressing into the bone, along with the sensation of the needle getting dragged across your skin. In addition, the vibrations trigger a response from the ulnar nerve—the one responsible for the pain that shoots down your entire arm when you hit your “funny bone.”