Marijo's Story - A Knee Pain Journey

Before Align

“Before I came here, I had a severe knee pain. I was always an active individual. I used to never give it any thought to walk from point A to point B, or up and down stairs. My job required physical enthusiasm and movement. I had a previous injury and my pain got worse. Nothing helped. My pain became so bad I couldn't walk or go up and down stairs normally. I had to take them one at a time. I wasn't motivated to do a lot of physical things because it was painful all the time.” 

“I tried to tough it out mentally, but I wasn't doing anything. That was unsuccessful, it all became heavier, and heavier, and heavier to bear. And I was heavier in my weight as well. It was like a whole dark cloud just pushing down on me. I was trying to battle it, but I didn't see a way out.”

Making the Change

“I had a friend tell me about this place called Align. I said, well, I'll give them a call. I left a message, and then this guy, Matthew called me back and he said, ‘Why don't you come see me?’ And I did. And it was pretty amazing because I had trepidation coming in because it's like, ‘Wait, what are they going to do for me?’ I had no idea.”

“Matthew simplified it, put steps to it, and gave me a hope that I didn't feel previous to coming here. They tune into what your issues are, lead you through the process, and you gain the tools to walk out of pain. I had no idea what these exercises were. I was an athlete in high school. I did spin classes. I was a physical person, like I said previously, but nothing I did was impacting my pain or changing it.”

Life at Align

“There was insight from this place. Matthew was like, ‘Okay, just do what I'm asking you to do.’ In my mind I'm thinking, ‘How is this going to help?’ But every time I came in, every time I followed the advice and listened to the encouragement change happened. It was like, one moment you turn around and you say, ‘How did I get here?’ I'm walking. I'm going up the stairs. I'm going down the stairs. I'm not thinking about it. It's natural. I'm back in my life. I'm going places. I have the freedom I previously did not have.” 

Life Now

“Now it is a little bit like sunshine. The weight of the dark cloud is gone, and I have my independence back."

"And then the weight thing… The encouragement there, the mental aspect of what women go through when it comes to their body image and what they eat. The chastisement in your own mind, you don't need anyone to tell you, ‘Oh, you're doing it wrong.’ You already feel like you're doing wrong. You need somebody to say, ‘It's okay to make a mistake, stay with it and get the right tools to be successful.’ And that's the positive part because your mind sometimes takes you to places that it shouldn't go and you need some advice."

"You need somebody that you can trust. And that's what this place does. It knows you. And it cares about you.”