Rylan’s Story - Low back & knee pain

Before Align

Before my pain started, I loved being active—running, jumping, and doing parkour.

But then my knees started hurting a lot. I went to the doctor and found out I had deterioration in my knees, which was causing the pain.

It started affecting how I moved. My running didn’t look right anymore, and I was falling a lot.

I couldn’t do the things I used to do the same way, and that was really frustrating.

Coming to Align

I was twelve when I started coming to Align.

My mom was actually coming here before I did, and she asked if I wanted to come check it out. I said sure.

After I came in, I really liked it. We even asked our doctor if it was a good place for me, and he said he had heard a lot of good things.

One of the first things I noticed was the community. I started in the summer and went to the morning group, and everyone was just really nice and welcoming.

It didn’t feel like a typical gym—it felt more fun and relaxed.

The Journey

At first, I didn’t really know what I was doing. The first week was mostly just getting to know people and figuring things out.

Some of the exercises definitely felt a little weird or even silly at first. But over time, I started to understand why we were doing them. One of the biggest things I learned was how important stretching actually is. I had tried stretching before and didn’t think it helped, but doing it consistently here made a big difference.

I also liked the environment a lot. The coaches made it fun—joking around, talking with everyone, and making it feel more like hanging out than just working out.

As I kept going, my body started to change. I got stronger, more stable, and more in control of my movements.

Life Now

Now I can run and jump again without the same pain. I can even go back to doing things like parkour. If my knee does start to hurt, I know exactly what to do. I stop, take care of it, and usually it feels better pretty quickly.

The best part is that it doesn’t happen very often anymore. I feel more confident in how I move and what my body can handle.

Coach’s Perspective

When Rylan first came in, he was dealing with knee and back pain that stemmed from instability throughout his lower body. His feet were weak, his ankles were unstable, and his pelvic stabilizers weren’t doing their job. His glutes and hip flexors were also underdeveloped, which made it difficult for him to control movement and absorb force properly.

Coach Jake worked with Rylan through the initial phases of his transformation, focusing on building that foundation. This included strengthening his feet, improving ankle stability, activating his glutes, and developing hip strength—key areas that were driving his pain.

As Rylan became more stable, his strength began to improve significantly. From there, we progressed him into more traditional strength work like step-ups, deadlifts, and other foundational movements.

Later on, we transitioned him into performance-based training—agility drills, ladder work, and explosive movements like box jumps. At this stage, he was no longer just out of pain, but moving athletically and confidently again.

The biggest shift was seeing him go from unstable and in pain to strong, capable, and able to move the way he wants without hesitation.

Pass It On: What would you say to someone who is considering starting their Align journey?

Don’t complain about the exercises—even if they feel weird at first. They actually work.

If you take care of your body and learn what to do, you can fix a lot more than you think.

Just stick with it.