Experience Align
Fix pain. Build strength.
Align is the gym that bridges the gap between rehabilitation and performance training. Through a whole-person approach — integrating individualized movement, nutrition, and mindfulness — we address the root causes of pain and build a foundation for long-term strength, resilience, and active living.
A whole person approach to muscle and joint pain
The joint pain principles
The Joint Pain Principles are the principles a person MUST know in order to navigate joint pain with wisdom.
PRINCIPLE 1
Joint pain is a complex, worsening problem
Joint pain isn’t caused by a single issue; it’s a complex collection of problems. Joint pain can involve up to 30 distinct issues, including joint dysfunction, joint degeneration, immune system reactions, and nervous system responses. This creates a vicious cycle where each problem makes the others worse.
PRINCIPLE 2
Pain signals are the fire alarm, not the fire
Pain signals act like your body’s fire alarm, alerting you to underlying issues. Instead of just silencing the alarm, put the fire out by focusing on fixing the root cause of the symptoms. We call these Pain Generators. Fixing these problems is essential to resolving your pain and preventing further issues.
PRINCIPLE 3
The North Star, your guide to pain relief
To resolve joint pain problems, your joints need to be adequately mobile, stable, and strong. Your immune and nervous systems must be well-regulated and healthy. Working toward this ideal guides you toward lasting pain relief, long-term joint health, and an enhanced overall sense of well-being.
This whole process typically takes between 5-12 months
How it works
-
Our joint pain specialized Personal Trainer performs a thorough assessment, examining joint range of motion, joint alignment, and what muscles are dominating everyday movements such as walking, stepping, and reaching. We also gather comprehensive data on your nutrition, medications, sleep, and nervous system health for a complete overview.
-
We create a detailed Joint Pain Dashboard, mapping out each joint, inflammatory, and nervous system issue. While seeing the complexity of your problem can be overwhelming, it also brings hope as we identify and address the root causes of your pain.
-
We develop your Whole Person Treatment Plan. We focus on improving your joint mobility, stability, and strength, while addressing nervous system issues, inflammation, and nutritional deficiencies with custom recommendations.
Featured client stories
-
Pain Story: Suffered through 12 years of severe low back and hip pain and was forced to use a walker.
Outcome: She is now pain free, off all opiates, and can live the life she wants.
Root Cause Resolution Program
Whole Person Evaluation: Mobility issues in her big toe, ankle, and hips, a misaligned pelvis, and weak lateral hip muscles. Additional screening showed a high likelihood of a hyper vigilant nervous system.
Movement: Prescribed deactivation, meditation, mobility, stability, and strength exercises to correct the joint issues found in her evaluation.
Nutrition: Nutritional contributors of inflammation were reduced and water, protein, and healthy fats were increased.
Supplementation: Magnesium, b12, and a multivitamin were recommended to eliminate micronutrient deficiencies.
-
Pain Story: Jean suffered with severe neck pain for over a decade. Her mental health and lifestyle were severely impacted.
Outcome: She got completely pain free and returned to gardening, walks with friends, and going to the movies.
Root Cause Resolution Program
Whole Person Evaluation: Compensating, extremely overworked neck muscles caused by poor breathing mechanics and weaknesses through her mid back and shoulder blades. Additionally, she had a hyper vigilance in her nervous system, fear and anxiety around her pain, poor sleep, and insufficient human connection.
Movement: Prescribed deactivation, breathing, mobility, stability, and strength exercises to correct the joint issues found in her evaluation.
Nutrition: Nutritional contributors to inflammation were reduced and water, protein, and healthy fats were recommended.
Lifestyle: Daily meditation and weekly human connection were prescribed.
-
Pain Story: Christians mid back/rib cage became unstable from an injury 3 years prior to joining Align. He experienced average daily pain levels of an 8 out of 10.
Outcome: Christian got pain free. He feels strong, healthy, and excited for the physical goals he has ahead of him.
Root Cause Resolution Program
Whole Person Evaluation: Mid back was compensating during his breathing mechanics. Critical weaknesses were also found in the stabilizing muscles around his shoulder blades and rotator cuff.
Movement: Breathing, mobility, stability, and strength exercises were prescribed to stabilize his core, rib cage, and shoulders.
Lifestyle: Manual therapies were recommended to mobilize adhesions through his rib cage that contributed to the instability.
What we treat
-
![Icon for low back and hip pain management in Redding]()
Low back and hip pain
Low back and hip pain often result from muscle imbalances and misalignment in the pelvis. By correcting these issues and building strength, we address the root causes, not just the symptoms.
Low Back Pain, SI Pain, Piriformis Syndrome, Hip Bursitis, Hamstring Tendonitis, Osteoarthritis, Spinal Degeneration -
![Icon for knee pain management in Redding]()
Knee pain
Knee pain often stems from issues in the hip, ankle, arch, and big toe. By correcting these dysfunctions and rebuilding surrounding muscles, tendons, and cartilage, we decrease knee stress and enhance resilience.
IT Band Syndrome, Patellofemoral Syndrome, Bursitis, Osteoarthritis
Our whole person approach
-
This step is all about bringing calm back to your nervous system, immune system, and joint systems to reduce immune reaction, joint tension, and joint resistance to stretch. This will look like relaxation exercises, diaphragmatic breathing, light stretching, and restoring critical nutrition to your body.
-
This step is about restoring a healthy joint range of motion to every joint and continuing to reduce nervous system dysfunction. This will look like massage, SMFR, active stretches, and eccentric loading exercises.
-
This step is about restoring function back to atrophied, sleeping muscles responsible for stabilizing your posture and key lifestyle movements. This will look like retraining motor control of certain muscle groups and relearning how to do movements the right way.
-
This step is about restoring adequate load bearing capacity to your structure given your body weight, body geometry, and desired lifestyle. That means your muscles, connective tissues, and bones are strong and dense enough to move your body around your desired lifestyle.
-
Once you achieve the desired strength levels, you enter into long term strength maintenance. For ideal maintenance, we recommend 2 days per week of strength training and 2-3 days per week of low intensity aerobic training such as walking or biking.
Meeting you where you are
In-person in Redding
If you live in Shasta County and prefer in-person care, sign up to work with us in our facility located in Redding, California.
Available nationwide
Work with your personalized joint pain care team from anywhere in the United States via telehealth through our digital clinic.