Elle (formerly Liz) is an avid adventurer and athlete who discovered PT through three ACL injuries & surgeries in her teens & twenties. (She loves working with soccer players and rehabbing anterior cruciate injuries).

If it is active and outdoors, she is likely a fan or has taken part at some point in her life. 

Elle has personal experience with a wide array of sports and active recreational pursuits including: playing soccer (member of the University of WI-Madison women's soccer team), tennis, basketball, and softball in her youth. She bikes (mountain, road, and commuting), swims, runs - and has even competed in marathon and triathlon events. For over a decade she has rock climbed (trad, sport, top rope, & bouldered all across North America). Paddling (including SUP), skateboarding, hiking, backpacking, snowboarding and cross country skiing are also things she enjoys. Like a proper Angeleno, she has learned how to incorporate yoga into her lifestyle and has recently been taking on the challenge of arm balances and inversions. 

Elle utilizes her diverse athletic experience to help her clients at Artisan Physical Therapy thrive.

She enjoys spending time with her partner, playing with their dogs, traveling, playing guitar, doing philanthropic work both locally and internationally, and her artistic work - including writing & documentary photographic & videographic interests in addition to life coaching & facilitating personal growth and wellness retreats, which you can learn more at: www.theellebottrell.com and join her contemplative, integrative health coaching newsletter here.

More interested in art and authentic living? Elle shares about her journey as a brave, adventurous, queer, neurodivergent, feminist, internationalist, healer and artist with her “Becoming Divergent” on the Becoming Divergent YouTube Channel and the Becoming Divergent Newsletter.

Elle Bottrell

PT, DPT, FAAOMPT

Elle’s obsession is healthy living!

Her desire for non-hurried, one-on-one time with patients and to be more adaptable to patients needs, including location of services, spurred her to start her own physical therapy practice in the fall of 2014. In 2025, she made another transition emphasizing movement health from a preventative perspective. With LYHL Coaching & Physical Therapy (Formerly Artisan Physical Therapy), she provides focused, quality care, give full answers to patient questions, and gain better understanding of each person’s individual needs, thus putting clients in optimal control of their health and optimizing the healing process.

Her approach is collaborative with her clients taking an essential, active role. She views herself as a guide for clients & patients to greater understanding of their bodies and what is required for healing and enhancing movement in the short-term and never sacrificing long-term health. Because injury prevention and wellness are important to her, she recommends regular check-ups at 6 month and yearly intervals to correct imbalances before problems even arise and before any significant change in activity or heading towards a new fitness, health or movement goal - such as movement to lose weight, beginning running or deciding to do a marathon, catching the rock climbing bug, going on a big adventure trip, becoming a parent or grandparent, and new work-life challenges. She values the opportunity to be your movement coach and/or physical therapist and go-to for your sports, posture, & musculoskeletal questions, as well as aches and pains and how to live your healthiest life. She specialized in movement coaching & injury prevention for runners & rock climbers; alleviating upper quarter issues - neck, shoulder, upper back, and jaw pain & tightness; and people with persistent, chronic problems & stiffness that need a more integrated and focused approach than standard physical therapy.

She spent over a decade educating the next generation of physical therapists in the doctor of physical therapy program at the University of Southern California (USC).

In an effort, to maximize her healing potential she took part in an intense one-year fellowship in orthopedic manual physical therapy (OMPT) to expand her decision-making abilities, expert assessment, and performance of hands-on (manual therapy) techniques.

Education

University of Wisconsin - Madison - BS in Kinesiology - Exercise Science

University of Wisconsin - Madison - Masters in Physical Therapy

University of Illinois at Chicago - Fellowship in Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy

Western University of Health Sciences - Doctor of Physical Therapy

Honors

Fellow of American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapists (AAOMPT)

Adjunct Instructor of Clinical Physical Therapy at the University of Southern California (USC)