Ryan Kitzen, PT, DPT

Ryan Kitzen is SPEAR Physical Therapy’s Chief Operating Officer. He is a licensed and registered Physical Therapist with a Clinical Doctorate in Physical Therapy. He is a member of the Orthopedic section of the APTA. Ryan received his doctorate degree from Northwestern University.

Ryan completed several clinical rotations at various outpatient orthopedic settings including Request PT in Gainesville, FL and HealthSouth in Chicago, IL. While in Gainesville, Ryan had the unique opportunity to work with the University of Florida football team and participate in several medical lectures and journal reviews.

He also was a graduate teaching assistant while at Northwestern. Ryan’s undergraduate degree is from Johns Hopkins University. He was a research assistant on a rehabilitation team at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Kennedy Krieger Institute, which focused on Botox injections to pediatrics with spastic cerebral palsy. Ryan also volunteered his time in the physical therapy department to work with children who had undergone the Ilizarof procedure for limb lengthening.

Upon completion of graduate school, Ryan worked as a therapist at Athletico in Chicago, IL. Ryan had the opportunity to work with some of the country’s leading physicians, therapist and personal trainers. Ryan completed several continuing education course with both didactic and lab components. Ryan believes in applying evidence based research to his clinical decision making. Ryan was a two time captain of the men’s soccer team, went on to become a first team All-American and was inducted into the Johns Hopkins Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014. Ryan was also a member of the United States Amateur National Soccer Team and has competed in several tournaments internationally during his youth tenure as an Olympic Development Player (ODP).

Currently, Ryan’s new passion is training and completing endurance triathlons of various distances. Ryan finished his first Half Ironman event in 2011 and plans on becoming an Ironman finisher in 2012. Ryan’s education and love for sport has made him a successful physical therapist for the outpatient setting. Not only can he empathize with his patients, he can relate to many of their injuries. Participating in sports all of his life, Ryan has had several encounters as a patient in therapy himself. Ryan understands that each patient is unique and therefore must be treated individually. Ryan is considered an expert in sports medicine orthopedics, musculoskeletal injury prevention, sports injury rehab, manual therapy, functional training and has a specialty in weight loss.

Listen to Ryan’s podcast about loving the process and being authentic.