Thomas M. Papke, Founder
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Tom Papke, PT is a practicing physical therapist with over 30 years of clinical experience. He graduated from Marquette University in May of 1980. Tom was inspired to pursue physical therapy after working through high school in a program that emphasized the arts for physically and mentally challenged kids, in his home town of Rockford Illinois.
After successfully completing his degree in physical therapy he relocated to southern California and worked at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. There he learned the medical and surgical applications of his field in a multidisciplinary setting. UCLA fostered his interest in orthopedics and Tom decided to pursue further post-graduate studies in Northern California. Tom was accepted into the Kaiser Hayward Orthopedic Residency Program in 1984 and completed the program in 1985 in Northern California. He worked for a surgical spine center the following two years which proved invaluable in the treatment and management of patients with difficult spinal pathologies. After seven years in hospital based practice Tom decided to become a private practitioner.
Tom opened his own private practice in 1987, called Ocean Park Orthopedic and Sports Therapy. He became recognized as a leader in the PT community and also was asked to share his knowledge at St. Mary’s College where he was an adjunct faculty member. Over the years he helped the college develop and implement their orthopedic curriculum in Physical Therapy first in their Bachelor program and then with the progression to their Masters Program. In that same time, Tom was contacted by the Los Angeles Raiders to consult with their head trainer George Anderson. He worked with a number of professional football, basketball, volleyball, tennis and recreational athletes in Los Angeles during his practice there.
In 1997 Tom sold his business to a national health care company and moved to the Washington DC community. He continued his interest in teaching and helped Marymount University develop their orthopedic curriculum in their New Physical Therapy Program. In that same year he developed a new business model (Capitol Metro Physical Therapy) for his physical therapy business and was one of the first clinician in the DC area to move his business into a health club setting in August of 1998.
Tom’s business model has grown to 5 clinics in the DC/Metro Community during the past 10 years. He has continued to lecture and grow in orthopedic physical therapy. He currently is a Fellow in the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Therapy. His current interests have taken him to a rural setting in Washington, Virginia where he now lives and where his most recent practice opened in December of 2007.
You will find Tom’s approach to patient care professional within a comfortable environment in which the patient is always the focus. He combines his academic and life experiences to provide the best in care, always working to achieve the patient’s goals. The environment is non rushed, one on one and friendly.
