DrumFaster

Drummer Health

Hearing, wrists and backs — the parts of a drummer that wear out, what the research says about why, and the habits and gear that keep you playing for decades.

Drumming is a physical job done at a volume that damages ears, with a repetitive motion that wears out wrists, from a seat that most drummers set up wrong. None of that is a reason to stop; all of it is a reason to know what you are doing to yourself. The drummers who play into their seventies are not the lucky ones — they are the ones who protected their hearing early and fixed their posture before it hurt.

Start with hearing, because that damage does not come back, then the wrists and the back. The gear each one points to — earplugs, thrones, pads — lives in accessories. Nothing here is medical advice: if something hurts and keeps hurting, see someone who can examine you.

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