Lower back Pain

After just playing for 2 months, I am already developing a sore lower back and sore left thumb (from carrying the weight of the horn). (I had a lower back muscle spasm that hurts from lower back to thigh a year ago playing golf). If I practice for more than 1 hour, my lower back starts to sore.

Am I having a bad posture or is it just me getting old?

Tony, I assume it's a tenor your playing. I had the same problem when I first started. The trick is to find a comfortable neck strap. Then keep it tight enough that you are not bearing the weight of the sax in your hands but only pushing it away from you using your thumb. I don't have my thumb forced right into the hook, but only the pad area pushing against the back of the sax. If your back pains persist, you might want to try a harness

sore left thumb ? i imagine you mean right thumb, if not, what kind of sax do you play ?

greetz

If your thumb is hurting, it is because you are lifting the weight of the saxophone with your thumb. The weight should go almost entirely onto the neckstrap. The thumb is used only to steady the saxophone. You should adjust your strap so that the mouthpiece fits exactly into your mouth without lifting at all with your thumb.

It might be that lifting the sax with your arm for an hour is what causes your back to hurt. When you adjust the neckstrap correctly, perhaps your back trouble will be eased. If not, you might consider the sax spinstrap, a shoulder sling that distributes the weight away from the neck. See http://www.wittman-spins.com/spins.html for a discription.

Do you mean your right thumb? The idea is that they thumb should not hold up the weight of the horn, your neck strap does. Your thumb just helps keep the horn in the right position. Having said that, I do have a slightly larger right thumb with a well developed calus from the thumb rest.

What kind of horn do you play (tenor, bari, alto, soprano)? I have a chronic neck and back problems so when I play the bigger horns, I use a harness which keeps the neck pain away. Do you stand or sit when practicing?

If possible you should try and get yourself a teacher and they will be able to correct a lot of bad habits before they become ingrained. Yes, it is possible that your pain is posture related, but there might be other reasons as well. But it is possible that you're reaggravating an old injury if your posture is off.

I'm sorry about the left and right thumb. I meant the right thumb. I was mainly lifting the horn with my thumb, I guess I need a shorter neck strap or make some adjustment to the one I have. ( I think the one I had was still to long for me, I still have to lift it just a little).

I only have a curved soprano and an alto. I find the back pain mostly associated with sitting practice when I really have to sit upright so that I can breath with my diaphragm (having a ring around the waist band).

Tony

I was able to rid myself of all back pain from tenor plaing by maing my own strap that I wear as a 'shoulder strap' as opposed to a neck strap. I made it out of an old computer carry bag and it goes over my left shoulder. It repositions the horn ever so slightly but it no longer hurts my neck or back. I hold the horn a little more toward the right. Hope this helps.

Rich C.

The angle of the shank to the instrument body and the angle of the mouthpiece on the shank are both critical to appropriate posture in playing the tenor. The adjustment for playing standing is very different from the adjustment for playing seated.

When seated, you should be able to look staight ahead (e.g. at music on a stand) without bending or turning your head. Don't adjust your posture to the instrument - adjust the mouthpiece and shank to your natural seated posture.

This usually involves swinging the shank to the right on the tenor body and turning the mouthpiece anti-clockwise on the shank.

The tenor is heavy and unwieldy enough (my Conn Mark 10 certainly is!) to cause considerable discomfort and long-term back problems is not properly held and played.

On Tue, 31 Jul 2001 15:22:32 GMT, 'Albert McClure'

I never had a low back problem because of sax playing, I've even had 2 surgeries on my lower discs. I do how ever have a disc problem in my neck and use a Neotech harness strap were all the weight is on my shoulders. I also recommend this harness to my younger sax students that play Bari sax.

Ben]

I have 3 tenors and the 10M is the lightest fo them all.