Steve Warfel II DPT, CFMT

Dr. Stephen G Warfel II has been practicing Manual Physical Therapy for 18 years now. His education journey began at Penn State, where he had the good fortune of working in research and athletic settings in the exercise physiology program. For two years he was a trainer and tester for the US Army Study, which evaluated the ability of women to gain strength and the physiological changes with a strength training regimen. After finishing with the military study, he was accepted as a trainer for varsity sports at Penn State. For two years he trained athletes ranging from wrestling to women’s lacrosse with HIT training philosophy.
Dr. Warfel graduated from Penn State University with a B.S in Exercise Physiology in December of 1999 and was accepted to Physical Therapy School at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences (USA). St. Augustine’s curriculum was focused on orthopedic manual therapy with extensive anatomical detail, coupled with biomechanical evaluation and treatment to the involved regions. He completed his Master and Doctorate degrees in Physical Therapy at USA in 2001 and 2002 respectively, earning high honors and the Manual Therapy Certification (MTC). Upon leaving Florida, he accepted his first job at HealthSouth in Lakewood, CO and began studying with the Institute of Physical Art.
Dr. Warfel completed the IPA curriculum and achieved the Certification in Functional Manual Therapy (CFMT) with honors. After completing certification, he began lab assisting IPA courses, which gave him valuable experience, but also lead to an invitation from the IPA to complete a yearlong fellowship in Steamboat Springs.
Dr. Warfel worked diligently academically and clinically to improve his skills and broaden his knowledge base over the year long program. After graduating and achieving fellow status with the IPA and nationally with the American Association of Orthopedic Manual Therapists (AAOMPT), he accepted a permanent position at Johnson and Johnson PT as a staff PT as well as co-fellowship instructor. This opportunity to teach and work with very skilled therapists continued to broaden his horizons and fuels him to seek more training and knowledge to share. He has spent the last 5 years working on the viscera, craniofacial region and airway, presenting at the AAPMD conference in 2016. He also presented groundbreaking material on evaluation and treatment of the cranium at the 2019 AAOMPT Conference. He continues to study these regions in-depth and develop new treatments to improve physiology as well as biomechanical function.
Dr. Warfel opened KinetChain Integrated Manual Physical Therapy in Aspen, CO under the guidance of Brad Gliden in September of 2019. The business has been thriving in the beautiful Roaring fork valley, offering 1 to 3 hour appointments to look at the whole system on every patient and make real changes in lives.
Dr. Warfel is an avid outdoors man and enjoys snowboarding, hiking, running, and mountain biking. He has raced mountain bikes at CAT 1 level for ten years for Feedback Sports out of Golden, CO. He has completed multiple trail marathons and endurance cross country mountain bike races, highlighted by he and his wife’s first place award in the Summer Grand Traverse 2016. Above all, Steve enjoys spending time with his family, his wife Heidi and daughter Finley.