Hip Pain in Bass Drum Leg?

pcjazzdrums

Junior Member
Hi everyone,

I've been getting hip pain right around the pelvis in my bass drum leg lately and I was wondering if there's anything I can do.

I play heel up most of the time, and usually for anywhere from 1-4 hours at a time. I use a pretty good Roc n' Soc throne and I've been experimenting with seat heights, as I figure the elevation of my leg could have to do with the pain.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks a lot!
 
I'm no doctor (are there any out there?)

but my guess would be seat height as a contributor, specifically lower seat height. If you've been sitting low and playing heel up, then most of the downward motion would be originating from the hip/thigh area, and possibly stressing it. I sit mid-high and play heel up, so more of the motion is originating from my heel and toes.
 
It is your hip flexor muscle..and it's because you are "floating" your leg off the ground with no support while playing heal up. Without getting into a huge debate, if you are trying to take the beater off the head while playing heal up, the hip flexor muscle is engage and it is keeping your leg up..hence the hip pain..

I play heal up and leave the beater on the head..always..
Yes, I "bury" the beater.....(Q ominous music bed)..
If I am playing a more "open" sounding bass drum, I will play heal down, and take the beater off to hear the resonance.

Thats just the way I play, and I how I teach students, and they are very happy and relaxed with the heal up approach I use...

Good Luck
 
I share Pat's experience with the "floating leg" hip pain.

I've also found that playing too hard does it as well. Loud bands or isolation headphones/earplugs sometimes don't let you hear the kick. The natural reaction is to "hit harder" but there comes a point where all technique goes out the window and you're just kicking the crap out of the drum.

I solved the problem by forcing my band members to turn down a little and by paying attention to proper form while playing hard.
 
I play heal up and leave the beater on the head..always..
Yes, I "bury" the beater.....(Q ominous music bed)..
This is the way I play as well. Do you have any issues when recording of getting that unwanted bounce? If so, how do you deal with that? I just finished a session where I had more of that than I was anticipating...
 
I have the same problem. I have a roc-n-soc also and have been getting hip pain after playing for about half an hour. what helped a lot was sitting further back on the throne so that the throne supports you leg more.
 
I have a the same throne. I noticed that when I'm playing, I do the same thing as when I drive. I sit with my hips at a bit of an angle. (Bass pedal / gas pedal). I am totally paying for it now.

I started to make sure I was sitting a bit "more evenly" in the throne and feel a bit better.

even buns, son!
 
Good advice so far but, are you 100% sure the pain is due to drumming? The likelyhood is that this pain is due to your playing or posture but if you're not completely sure, I cannot emphasise too strongly the need to be checked out by a doctor. You said the pain comes from the pelvic area. That is a less usual place for pain due to muscle strain. Just because it hurts when you play drums, doesn't necessarily mean it's the drums that cause the pain. They may merely be exacerbating an underlying condition. Anyhow, get it checked out, just in case.

Your issue is almost certainly down to drumming and can easily be fixed, so don't panic, but a cautionary tale. I had pain that started in my hip then went to my shin. After a lot of checking, it turned out that I had a spinal tumor!
 
Hey, I know I have missed the boat here by about 2 years, but this has been something that I struggled with for years and finally figured out what was going on just a few months back.

For anyone with this problem of hip pain try this.....line your hip joints up with your pedals.
-------A simple way to do this is let your arms hang down at your sides
-------bend over a bit and stick your elbows right in to the hip pocket created by the large hip bone sticking out....(make sense?)
-------this will be just about "shoulder width apart"
-------now take the bass drum pedal and line it up right with your foot (so that the line that your arm making on top of your leg *from the hip pocket* is right over the pedal) This will ensure that your knee, ankle, and hip are all aligned with each other *very important*
-------do the same thing with the HH pedal as well (do it second b/c it is much easier to move around than the bass drum ;)



Here are pictures of how to do it....
last one is a top down view....I set up the snare in the center of my legs but to keep the hip joint over the pedal you will end up slightly angled to the kit. If the bass drum is 12 O'clock then the snare ends up around 11 or so

-----This setup ends up giving you more space as well....and allows you to use large drums if you choose because you do not have to worry about bass drum height as much. Hope this helps someone. :)
 

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It is your hip flexor muscle..and it's because you are "floating" your leg off the ground with no support while playing heal up. Without getting into a huge debate, if you are trying to take the beater off the head while playing heal up, the hip flexor muscle is engage and it is keeping your leg up..hence the hip pain..

Which caused tension in the flexor and causes the resulting pain.

I play heal up and leave the beater on the head..always..
Yes, I "bury" the beater.....(Q ominous music bed)..

Just like Jeff Porcarro did; wonder if he had any success?

If I am playing a more "open" sounding bass drum, I will play heal down, and take the beater off to hear the resonance.

Thats just the way I play, and I how I teach students, and they are very happy and relaxed with the heal up approach I use...

Good Luck

Excellent info from a very experienced player!



Mike

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I Knee and hip pain and it has orthofeet shoes that I have no pain with them. In fact, this is the only shoe. I was worried about buying these online because I couldn't try them on first, but the customer service chat helped me narrow down the style I was looking for - knee pain and joint instability. They feel great and I'll be looking for one of the pairs of dressy shoes soon! I really wear. I work, exercise and take long walks in them. If you have any foot issue, try them. I highly recommend Orthofeet.
 
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