A massage couch or a massage chair having a supporting part resting on the subsurface and a pivoting part mounted thereon such that it can pivot about a horizontal axis of rotation and on which the person to be massaged sits or lies, characterized in that the axis of rotation is located higher than the supporting part. The ability of the pivoting part to pivot with respect to the supporting part is preferably achieved by means of at least one kinematic device, which comprises an articulated parallelogram on the supporting part and an articulated parallelogram on the pivoting part.