Good thing you went to a doctor! could have gotten way worse
I have always dismounted to the front. Stepping off in a controlled fashion, or jumping off when less controlled. I never really thought about which was better until reading this thread. So I guess I’ll try the rear dismount and see how it goes.
(I successfully freemounted the 26 today for the first time, btw. After a couple false starts, did 3 in a row with riding away. Kind of a big deal for me. Freemounting the 20 was pretty easy, but the 26 was challenging, for some reason. But today it “clicked.”)
So I have been keeping this thread in mind as I ride, and yup, most dismounts for me are forward, UPD or planned, and depending on the situation I either grab the seat with a hand or let it hit the ground. Sometimes I’ll come to a slow down and dismount to the read, for instance if I have to climb over an obstacle, otherwise it’s all forward dismounts for me.
A couple years ago, while working through a series of “to the ground falls” that broke many fingers, I started working on my UPD’s, trying to identify the reasons for my ground falls.
What I determined was that I tended to “ride the uni into the ground”, so not letting go of the uni early enough. The result being that my grab hand (and upper body) were positioned closer to the ground and angled forward, so when I UPD’d it was far more difficult to reorient myself and land on my feet safely.
These days, my fingers are much safer because I drop that uni and spring into the air, so I have far, far fewer ground falls even though I am riding harder and faster than ever before. Sure, in part my reduced falls and fall severity come from riding experience, but the change in the severity of my UPD’s was overnight once I started “ejecting” from the uni.
Unis are tougher than uni riders 
If you’re a new rider, just do what is comfortable, hopefully you’ll keep riding and develop your own style.
Bens ejecting method has saved me many a time. kept me from killing my self when i fall.
This thread made me practice my dismounts! When I get home I do half a dozen mount ride forward dismount and it has got a lot better. Certainly idling and rearward dismounts are similar in that the rearwards lean is something to get used to. I’m not sure if it’s coincidence or not but since I started pd practice my idling and backwards riding seems to have improved.
But for a beginner, ride for fun and don’t worry about minor things like this. Any dismount you can walk away from is a good one 
Sorry Nurse Ben but I would just as emphatically state that you are cracked.
Though I do agree with your subsequent post suggesting that a learner stick to the front dismount - which is what he is gonna be doing a lot of anyway.
But the rear is safer for hands and fingers, for back (expecially on a taller unicycles like a giraffe) and the required skill level for nailing it every time is a level that any rider who ventures out in public should acquire. It shares that skill for steep descents, controlling speed at short notice, propping up when a ped steps in front of you, stopping if you see a sudden hazard, stopping as you cross a road and a car comes around the corner, etc etc etc.
Apologies buddy, but if after riding for a while your preferred and recommended dismount is to the front then methinks you have been watching that idiot who does videos for ExpertVillage.
To the OP however, do not sweat it. Front is fine for as long as you need it to be.
Dismounting backwards was the trick that I never learned. I always go for a front jump instead. It’s easier and I feel safer doing it. 
When i started learning to unicycle, nearly all of my dismounts (planned or not) where to the front, some “dismounts” to the back ended in me lying on my back (foot caught by pedal etd.) so i stuck to dismounts to the front.
After more than a year i started to try idling and in this process riding backwards and stalling. I can’t idle and i can’t ride backwards so far, but i can come to a standstill, evenually tiny rollback, and than ride on, or dismount gracefully to the back.
So now my preferred dismount is backwards, more gracfully, more “controlled” (fells and i am sure looks more controlled than just falling of the uni to the front).
Greetings
Byc
Like others, I dismount from the front. I can do it well and it is safe for me at this point. I have only been at this for a few months.
As a result of this thread, I have done it off the back a few times, and when I did pull it off, it felt quite good. When I do botch it, it is often because I failed to really execute a good enough stall. More practice and I should be good. I continue to work on this when/where it feels safe to do so.
There have been a few scary moments, but most failures get turned into front dismounts. Granted, those are a bit awkward with my hand holding the nose of the saddle instead of the back of it.
You don’t need to stall. Just let the wheel keep rolling forward as you step down to the ground.
Dismounting from the back it’s definltly easier to grab the seat without it feeling awkward.
Personally, i can dismount either way, but prefer dismounting to the rear as the unicycle comes out in front an I can see that it’s not going to bump anything.
Like I said before, learning to idle is very useful, as, once you can idle comfortably, it’s easy to dismount to the rear.
I can do it every time on my 20", but struggle on the 29er. Had a few successes, but also landed flat on my arse a few times with a pedal bite on my calf…
Sure enough. I’ve managed it several times today.
Sure. Unless you’ve grabbed the seat from the front, planning to dismount from the rear, but you (I) end up having to turn it into a front dismount at the last second to keep from wiping out. In that case, my arm ends up still connected to my uni, which is then behind me. It hasn’t pulled me into a summersault, and it probably wouldn’t, but it sort of feels like that.
I can grab the rear of the seat for a front dismount just fine. Not awkward at all. Of course, I am also not wearing a backpack or using a grab handle.
Yup. I see that, and agree with it. That is one of the reasons that I am learning it now. I can sort of assume the area behind me is clear, but it is better to be able to see where your unicycle is going to be going.
That makes sense. I have not learned to idle yet, though. I could put off rear dismounting until after I can idle. Well, except that I can sort of do it now. From what I read of idling and what I know of how I learn, it is probably going to be awhile before I can idle.
It is a lot, lot easier to dismount to the rear in a graceful controlled way than it is to idle.
I wear a pack and ride with a handle, it’s still easier and safer to dismount forward, esp if the dismount goes wrong; I can kick/jump free of the unicycle without the unicyle getting under my feet.
The rare occassion e I come off backwards would be in some UPD’s (very few), when I do a planned dismount coming upon certain obstacles; super steep uphills I can’t climb, and on occassion when I’m rolling up to my car at the end of a ride.
How folks dismount is probably more of a “how did I learn to dismount” than it is a question of which is safer. I have done thousands of dismounts forward and hundred of dismount backwards, so for sure I’m a forward dismount guy.
Just to clarify- when I’m talking about dismounting to the rear, I’m refering to controlled dismounts i.e. when you’ve decided to get off the uni. As opposed to UPDs, which are a very different kettle of fish.
As far as I’m concerned, the best thing to do when a serious UPD happens, is get off the uni and away from the uni by whatever means necessary, forwards, backwards or any of the other directions available. In my experience, the nasty UPDs are those in which I end up on top of the uni, or attached to it. With a serious UPD, I’d also recommend not trying to grab the seat.
In contrast, with a planned dismount, I generally grab the seat handle just before I start to idle back, then dismount to the rear- the unicycle comes out in fornt as I descend, so I can see exactly what it’s doing.
I can, and do, dismount to the front when it’s desirable, but, of the two, I just find the rear dismount to be more controlled.
Of course- no one’s going to argue with that.
What I was saying was that if you do decide to learn to idle, you’ll aquire the bonus skill of dismounting to the rear without having to practice it.
For some people that could be significant. For example, people like me much prefer actual riding to practising level skills- especially those who, like me, when riding, tend to stay on the unicycle rather than constantly getting on and off it.
To practise dismounting/mounting obviously requires a lot of stopping and starting, whereas, with idling, once you’ve got the bare bones of it, you can simply slow to a pause, rock backwards and forwards a few times, and polish your idling without having to stop, dismount, remount etc.
In fact, if you ride in the city on roads, once you’ve got the basic idle down, you can get loads of practice on every ride while waiting at red lights.
Once you do that, you’ll have a good rear dismount without ever having practiced it.
(Idling is also very useful for those of us who don’t get along with hopping :)).
Also, while I’d say idling is a tricky thing to learn, I suspect it’s cos many do what I initially did, which is grab a post and rock backwards and forwards. You can spend literally months doing that, and you won’t progress with idling.
I did it myself, then eventually forced my self to go out in the open and, with no support to hold onto, practise mounting straight into an idle (rollback mount, I believe) and also slowing while riding and going into an idle.
2 weeks after doing that, I could idle.
Maybe put a magura break on your 29er.You don’t always have time to slow right down into an idle before dismounting. I’m thinking of dogs running out onto the cycle path,causing you to have to stop suddenly. With a break you just lean back,apply the break and drop gently backwards onto your anchor foot.The break prevents the uni from squirting forward as you dismount.On the bigger unicycles I would recommend a break.Beacause of their speed capability and height.With the break applied you won’t feel so nervous doing a backwards dismount.Hope this helps.
I’m stopping and starting alot because rocks or cracks in the sidewalk can still toss me sideways… 
Learned a free mount! Yay!
When I do slow down to dismount, or just try to slow and speed up again, I find my top leg is doing most of the work. But I read somewhere that it’s the bottom leg that controls idling and the top one just hangs out? Is that a “you’ll get to it” technique like keeping weight on the seat? Or how it should be from the start?