Sousa Marches
Band geeks: Will marching band mess up my knees?
I play tuba/sousaphone and I’ll be in marching band next year. My friend said one of the tuba players had really hurt her knees by marching. I’m kinda small like her, 5’5”, about 105 pounds, but I’ve marched with the sousa (for a short time, admittedly) and the only pain I felt was on my left shoulder where I held it up. Will marching with the sousa do any damage to my knees?
*repost from injuries section*
This will be my fourth and last year in marching band, and I can say that, no, it doesn’t mess up your knees, but that only if you haven’t had a knee injury before. I played saxophone my first two years, and was Drum Major this past year, and the only time my knees would ever have any pain is from standing at attention for 45 minutes at competition one year.
One of my best friends plays sousaphone and has never complained about any knee problems, but she has had pain in her left shoulder. What eventually happens to sousaphone players is that they develop a really strong neck muscles and the pain in no longer noticed, but if you don’t want to wait for that to happen, you can ask your director for a “shoulder pad.” They’re quite comfortable and they look pretty cool too.
Sousa – The Washington Post March
