However, most of the time drumlines spend their time marching around. Kind of a weird concept for marching band, but hey....what can ya do. Using stands when you can is a good idea, but for the small amount of time that most lines aren't moving, it isn't worth dragging them out. Just depends on the logistics of your line really.

when I played tenors, I remember countless times I had guard peeps on my back and massagin it(sorta fun) but I basically had to do stretches/exercise before and after practices/performances. I don't know how many guys have worked their way through the line (bass, tenors, then snare) but I have, when I got to tenors, the pain was kickin it, IT HURTS :-/

I was referring to when a line warms-up. That is when they should use stands; although we could invent a stand with wheels that could be rolled across the field…. Well, maybe not.

- TritonDrumBum

Osteoporosis is the process of the bones losing their strength and mass, thus becoming porous. That's from a combination of old age and a lack of calcium in the diet. You are thinking of Scoliosis, where the spine curves out of natural alignment.

Well, I think if you did a lot of back exercises and simply built up endurance to wearing the drums, then your back will be fine. If you always put them on stands and only wear them for parades, football games, contests, etc., then it'll be worse on you when you're actually performing. And I'm pretty sure that scoliosis is something you're born with- not something you can actually develop on your own.

Recently, I haven't been as concerned about back pain. Now I'm more worried about what my body can actually handle since I often am on the verge of passing out. I never actually have passed out but I feel as though I barely make it through a practice. So what is going to happen when August comes and the temperatures are warmer and practices are longer?

The best thing I've learned to treat tenor back pain would be to suck it up and live with soreness....I know it's a tough world out there, but nothing works for me...(oh and some of us have a few things extra to carry ) I know it's really tough, especially when you wear them day in and day out, living on four hours of sleep or less (Then you wake up and can't move SERIOUSLY!!!) You just gotta force yourself. Hey, you signed up for it the day you made tenors. Have fun. Pain= another part of life. Oh heating pads and exercize may help some.

I'm going into my fourth year playing tenors at my high school, and I don't get back pains unless I've been wearing my tenors for a long time..
On a side note, as a traditional-style marching band, we wear our tenors rather high (as high as the Yamaha R-M t-bar carriers can go, including with the J-bars) so that we get full chair steps while marching (think TBDBITL). So we have to deal with the weight at a higher position, whether that helps or not... I don't know.
My freshman year I felt a lot of back pain, but I worked through it and did a lot of exercises to work my back. I never got to use stand (my high school has only two stands, we couldn't find the second one my freshman year when there were only two tenor players, but found it my sophomore year so I got a stand), and I think it actually helped me. I got used to grinning and bearing it. No pain, no gain. I dealt with it and now I'm fine.

The truth is... the human body is not meant to have a drum strapped on to it. Plain and simple. Plus, there are scientific theories stating that numerous humans experience back pain as we are still getting used to standing upright. Hopefully the drummers of the future will have evolved to have stronger backs.