Is stooping inherited?

A son often stands and walks like his father. If the father stoops, chances are the son has also developed a stoop — or at least shows clear signs of developing one. So yes, stooping is inherited. The real question is: “How does the inheritance work?”

Is stooping inherited genetically?

Whenever we talk about inheritance, we tend to assume it’s a genetic thing, encoded in our DNA. However, genetics is not the only mechanism for passing characteristics from father to son. A complete list of kinds of father-to-son inheritance would have to include at least:—

• genetic inheritance
• ideas that the father has taught his son
• mannerisms the son has copied from his father
• traits they share from living in the same environment
• legal inheritance of money and possessions

Which of these is the mechanism for inheriting a stoop? If you think about it enough you’ll see ways in which all of them could be. Even inheritance of possessions (or the lack of it) could cause the son to copy his father’s stoop!

So which is the most common reason for inheriting a stoop?

The real reason why we stoop

We all constantly pick up quirks and mannerisms from the people around us: accents, facial expressions, reactions to common events, food tastes, personal preferences — and postural habits.

Picking up such mannerisms is as natural — and difficult to avoid — as breathing the same air, eating the same foods and drinking the same water. If the people around you walk with a stoop, you will naturally copy them unless you do something to prevent it. Usually, by the time you realise there is a problem your habit of stooping has become so much a part of you that it is virtually impossible to get rid of.

Debunking the “stoop gene”

So why do people immediately tend to imagine there must be a “stoop gene” that some have and some haven’t? Two reasons:-

1. People who have developed the habit of stooping rarely find out how to get rid of that habit again. That permanence can easily seem a good enough reason for believing in the inheritance of a “stoop gene”.
2. A lot of so-called thought is itself just a mannerism, a “thought-tick” that people catch and copy from the people around them. Such mannerisms often gain credibility from the mis-application of well-known scientific theories. The “a gene for everything” explanation of inheritance is one such mannerism. It takes a little real thought to realise that the idea of a “stoop gene” is not as well-founded as it appears on the surface.

Now we’ve demolished your “stoop gene”, let’s get rid of your stoop

Now you know you’re not the victim of a family “stoop gene” how do you go about getting rid of your stoop?

First you need to know the nature of the stoop mannerisms that you’ve inherited. These mannerisms are habits. These habits are so deeply entrenched that few people ever do get rid of them. Yet here on BackMagician.com and on SmilingBackMethod.com you’ll find exactly what you need to grow out of your stoop.

First steps to getting rid of your stoop

You need to mount a two-pronged attack on your stoop: Learn the Smiling Back Method of the Alexander Technique and practise Semi-Supine.

• The Smiling Back Method of the Alexander Technique: start by reading this article. Then continue by using the Further Resources listed below
• Semi-Supine: start here, with my previous post. The rest is in my free ebook: The Hows & Whys of Semi-Supine”.

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