Whatever you do, don't lean back when you have your tenors on. I had a habit of doing that when i first started playing and I had alot a lot of unneccessary back pain. To strenghten my back when i first joined the drumline, i would take one of our older sets of tenors and wear them for about ten minutes. After awhile, i would increase my time until i could wear them for over an hour and not hurt that much.

I never had back problems, just me and this other guy would get really baddly rubbed hips, and then a few times myleg would go numbw hiole marching, any ideas on this?

Yeah, I have actually used a backbrace, and my highschool only uses the small Pearl championship set. I remember last year at band camp, my back was hurting so bad that my whole legs started to shake extremely bad. So I took my dads old back brace, but it was still missing the metal support beams that slip into it like the plastic things on kids shin gaurds for soccer. But anyway, I used the brace, and I think it helped some. But by the time the next year came, I started forgetting it. And I realized I had totally built an immunity to it. Now my back is getting stronger, and that is the way to go. But as far as heaviest drums go, you are all wrong! The heaviest ones I had to deal with were the large set of Premiers at the 'Scades tryout. Anyway, get a brace if you think it helps, but building that muscle is the way to go in my opinion. Peace

Yeah, this is only my first year of playing quads. When I first started playing my back would kill me after practice, and on comps we would have the drums on even longer. I couldn't just take of my drums when we weren't playing. Plus we wear out harnesses under our jackets. We practice 4 days a week, so after a while I just got use to it. I don't really have back pain anymore.

I agree with the idea of using stands whenever possible. I currently do not use stands with my drumlines but I have given the challenge if they win high drums at one or more contests for two years in a row I will push the head bd's for stands. If they can prove to me they can play and march, then they can learn there music with stands. This seems to have keep some of the younger drummers in a mind set more apt to accept constructive criticism from myself, other guest percussion instructors and even from each other.

- Edited for double-posting. You have up to six hours to edit your posts. -

I marched tenors from 89-96(full fledged tenor jock), then hurt my back. Chiropractor wanted me to marry him (not really, just wanted me to come to his office four times a week for a month or two), and the orthopedic doctors ordered physical therapy for about the same. I pulled pit duty for the fall of 96 (converted to full fledged snare jock), and then marched snare from 97-01.

I don't remember pain before that. If it was there I nevered bothered to think about it. I was having too much fun playing. But in retrospect, I probably should have paid attention to the pain and taken the proper precautions, ie. a brace or something. Maybe I wouldn't have the old man back at 28. Think about it...

On page 3, someone said you can get scoliosis from wearing back braces and you can get osteoporosis from not wearing it... geez, that scares me.

Next year, I'll be playing quads (and already started practicing it) and I'm having problems with the weight.
Will taking a lot of calcium and working out my back prevent me from getting these disease?

I had a bad back before i even came into the battery. So in the beggining, being a girl and carrying a bass4 kinda sucked. But during sets when everyone else (GUYS!!) took their drums off, i kept mine on.So i was the only girl, and the only one standing.SAme with indoor im on tenors, and we have Pearl Championships also, its a pretty heavy set. But i feel more comfortable now with a drum on than off, FINALLY! so keep it on itll build your back up.

Don't cheat when your wearing the drums...

Most people try to lean back and wat not to put the weight of the drums somewhere else...

It's gonna hurt, cause you don't really work out your lower back in your normal everyday life...

Just know it's gonna hurt, but by season time, you'll feel weird when it's not on you...

just hang in there...

You'll get used to it. My biggest problem (I've marched tenors for three years) has been that my shoulders are slightly uneven. This means I'm forced to carry the drums shifted to one side to make them flat, but it puts the weight almost entirely on one shoulder or the other. I have to switch it constantly now--any thoughts on what I should do about this?

http://www.nismat.org/ptcor/lbp/ - applies to anyone who marches with a drum.. it'll help reduce the pain