Bettina Bardin-Sorensen, Owner, PT, MSPT, Certified KAATSU Specialist, TPI Certified, Wellness Coach
As the founding owner of Columbia Gorge Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine, Bettina strives for excellence with patient care and customer service. She established Columbia Gorge Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine in 1997 and continues to lead the practice based on the principles of quality care, specialization, advanced education and excellent customer service.
Bettina firmly believes the patient comes first, no matter what the circumstances. She understands the intricacies of the local healthcare system and vows to do everything she can to serve patients with accountability and render the best care available to the community of the Columbia River Gorge. Seeing her patients live their best lives motivates her to continually improve her own techniques and practices.
Bettina grew up in Colorado and received her Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology/Exercise Physiology in 1989. She then moved to Park City Utah, where she attended the Utah College of Massage. She became a licensed massage therapist and practiced in Utah before moving to Oregon. She received her Masters in Physical Therapy with distinction from Pacific University in 1995. In addition to being a licensed massage therapist and physical therapist, she received training from Stott Pilates and uses Pilates concepts in her patient treatments.
Bettina’s love of the outdoors and small towns drew her to move to Hood River, Oregon, in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge. She established Columbia Gorge Physical Therapy in hood River in 1997 and has remained steadfast in her commitment to deliver the highest quality care to Gorge residents and visitors in an effort to help people reach optimal health and performance.
She has worked with athletes at all levels of their careers, including Olympic and professional athletes. She specializes in upper and lower extremity dysfunction/injuries, injury prevention, biomechanical assessments related to sports injuries, running and walking, postural retraining and strengthening, blood flow restriction training using KAATSU method, and Pilates-based core stabilization work. Bettina has coached conditioning and fitness classes middle school and high school teams and finds working with local youth sports teams to be a very important and rewarding experience. She is passionate about educating adults and children about the importantce of taking care of their “whole” bodies through exercise and proper nutrition.
Over the past 10 years, she has passionately studied how to treat persistent pain caused by lifestyle-related musculoskeletal, metabolic, and autoimmune health issues. Her vision is to help create a new paradigm around treating persistent pain and help reverse our global pain epidemic.
In an effort to further help her patients address pain, inflammation, and anxiety around their pain, she has spent a significant amount of time studying and researching the use of cannabis for medical purposes.
Bettina is a long-time outdoor enthusiast and sports participation and exercise is a big part of her life. Besides enjoying as much time as possible with her family and friends, she enjoys road biking, mountain biking, alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, kiting, functional strength training and fly fishing. She also finds great joy in spending time with her three dogs.
