Todd Swango

Therapist

I always knew that I wanted to work in healthcare and found out about physical therapy when I was in high school. I was just so interested in the idea of using exercise to heal the body. In PT school I went from being interested in amputees and prosthetics to orthopedics and manual therapy. After graduation I worked for a couple of years before going into a residency program to become a manual therapist, which totally changed the way that I work with patients and made me a significantly better therapist. I can’t imagine not going into that program, which landed me here at Orthopaedics Plus. It’s hard for me to believe it, but I have now been working here since 2004. It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, because there are always new people I’m meeting and different problems that I get to address using a variety of techniques. I know it has been a long time when I see a former patient return to see me many years after they finished PT for another problem and they say something like, “Oh you weren’t even married when I saw you last time.” I enjoy getting to work with people of all ages, including kids, and teaching them about the importance of exercise, posture, and strength so that they can continue with activities that interest them. In the clinic love seeing how things change over time with respect to treatment methodologies, both from a PT and a medical/surgical standpoint, and that is something that keeps things fresh for me. It’s also fun to see how many interests I have in common with patients, whether it’s soccer, biking, interest in food and cooking, or kids and family.

I have a beautiful wife, who also happens to be a physical therapist and 2 young boys at home (and one super easy-going dog). They keep me busy outside of work hours with coaching them in soccer and baseball, mountain biking, hiking, and camping. We all enjoy music and singing and there is rarely a quiet moment in our house! I also enjoy woodworking and always have a project going on or am planning for the next one. I enjoy building furniture for the house and am excited to tackle any home improvement project on my own. It may take me longer than others, but I always strive for perfection in all my work.