Thanks to smartphones, I feel compelled to nag my kids about their sagging posture more often than my mom nagged me. And like most parents, I felt somewhat justified about my nagging when I read a recent article in “The Washington Post” that referenced a study published in “Scientific Reports” about how bone growths at the base of the neck (also known as “exostosis,” or “horns”) have been showing up in the x-rays of people aged 18 to 30 more often, attributing these “horns” to “text neck,” or a bent neck posture due to heavy handheld technology use.

A mild rebuttal, published in the “New York Times” eased my panic a little, because the experts they interviewed were skeptical that technology was the the only cause of these “horns.” They didn’t, however, deny how text neck can contribute to pain and postural issues in young people.

“Kids are definitely spending more time hunched over,” says Shevaun Mackie Doyle, MD, pediatric orthopedic surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. “It’s a pain generator. The combination of spending more free time over electronics rather than running around outside increases the amount of what we call postural kyphosis, which is basically a hunch due to posture, which can cause back pain.”

So, aside from relentless nagging, how can a parent encourage their kid — easily and feasibly — to stretch out and realign their posture in order to fend off some of this text neck and hunching? We asked Dr. Doyle, who had three moves to recommend:

1. Wall alignment breaks

After a long spell hunched over a desk or a bed doing homework (or just lazing about on their phones), Doyle says this minute-long move is an effective way to remind the spine to straighten out. Before beginning, Doyle says your kid should set their phone timer for a full minute, put the phone down and hold this posture until the full minute is up. “When switching homework subjects, your child can stand up straight, aligning their heels, tushy, shoulders and head against a wall, placing their arms up at an angle like a goalpost or a cactus (also against the wall). This move keeps the spine in kind of the opposite position of text neck,” says Doyle.