Orthowell Physical Therapy

Hamstrings Explained

What Causes Tight Hamstrings and Why Stretching Sometimes Fails

What’s really causing your patients’ “tight hamstrings” in up to 76% of patients? Find out in this new study by Pesesse et al. (2025).

The authors assessed 178 asymptomatic adults to determine whether the discomfort limiting their hamstring range of movement (ROM) was muscular or neural.

They split them into two groups, who received one of the following assessment tests:

  1. Straight leg raise (SLR), or
  2. Knee extension angle (KEA)—taking them into 90 degrees of hip flexion, then passively extending the knee.

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Low Back pain

How to Treat Low Back Pain and Improve Daily Movement

Low back pain is one of the most common reasons people struggle with daily activities such as walking, sitting, bending, or even sleeping comfortably. Whether it starts suddenly or builds over time, back pain can limit movement and reduce quality of life if not treated correctly. The good news is that most low back pain responds well to the right approach—one that focuses on movement, strength, and long-term prevention rather than quick fixes.

Understanding how low back pain develops and what helps improve movement is the first step toward lasting relief.

Common Causes of Low Back Pain

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Berberine

Health Effects of Berberine and How It Improves Physical Therapy

Berberine is a natural compound found in plants like barberry and goldenseal. It has been used in traditional medicine for many years and is now gaining attention for its potential health benefits, especially for blood sugar control, metabolism, and inflammation. These effects may also support people who are working on improving their physical health through physical therapy.

Physical therapy focuses on movement, strength, and recovery. When overall health improves, the body often responds better to therapy and exercise.

What Is Berberine?

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Pickleball Injury Tips to Prevent Pain

Pickleball Injury Tips to Prevent Pain

Pickleball is taking the world by storm. It’s not only a great workout but a great way to make new friends and stay socially connected. The only problem with the “fun factor” of pickleball is people playing too often and then getting injured. Healthcare costs for pickleball injuries in 2023 is estimated at almost $500 million for the US! I wanna show you a way to avoid becoming part of those statistics. 

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Pajar Ice Gripper vs. Yak Trax

Don’t Slip & Fall This Winter: Pajar Ice Gripper vs. Yak Trax

As Mother Nature and climate change throw more curveballs at us, it is important to stay safe on the ice. The last thing you want to do is slip and fall. We LOVE to treat you, but we would much rather keep you healthy, active, and injury-free. Here is a great strategy to ensure that!!

Winter brings beautiful scenery, but it also brings icy sidewalks, slippery driveways, and hazardous parking lots. Slips and falls are one of the most common causes of winter injuries, often leading to ankle sprains, knee injuries, hip fractures, wrist fractures, and back pain. The good news? Many of these injuries are preventable with the right footwear and traction tools.

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Back Pain

Inversion Tables for Back Pain Relief

Low back pain is one of the most common conditions affecting adults today. Whether it’s caused by long hours of sitting, poor posture, past injuries, or age-related changes in the spine, back pain can limit movement and affect everyday life. One treatment approach many people are curious about is spinal decompression, especially through the use of an inversion table.

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Prevent a Hangover

What if I told you there is a way to prevent a hangover?

I have to be honest. What I’m about to share with you has been a hangover prevention miracle! It even prevents that day after malaise even after imbibing just one or two cocktails. The less I drink, the less my tolerance, even after just one cocktail. Sooooooo… how do you manage the effects?

Remember, the alcohol that we drink is ethyl alcohol. Alcohol breaks down in our liver into acetaldehyde, and that is the toxic chemical that causes our hangovers and all the other bad stuff in our bodies.

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drinks

Why you should NOT drink…OMG!!!

80% of all adults drink alcohol.

Low to moderate consumption of alcohol defined as 7-14 per drinks per week or 2 drinks per day. Study of 35K people in UK. Evidence of loss of neurons in brain! 

Alcohol can pass directly into EVERY cell. It is both water and fat soluble. This is the main reason for its widespread damaging effects in your body.

Alcohol breaks down in the liver to a poison called acetyl aldehyde and to a fuel source called acetate.

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Ortho well

Lactate Threshold Testing Clinic Recap

We recently hosted our very first Lactate Threshold Testing Clinic for runners from the local Winners Circle Running Club. It was a fantastic event, giving athletes the opportunity to better understand their physiology and how it directly impacts training and performance.

To dive deeper into the science, check out:

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