Dr. Ryan Swink
Here I stand at the Ritz Carlton resort (formerly Bacara) in Goleta with my beautiful wife Jessica and our cute dog-child Oliver. I was born and raised in this great town of ours and grew up in a chiropractic lifestyle. My dad, Dr. Robert Swink, is a chiropractor, and my mom was our office manager. In 2023 both of them happily retired.
As children, my mom would occasionally bring me and my sister to the office after school. We would “help” her at the front desk and interact with the patients. Patients would come in with headaches, back pain, shoulder pain, and even knee pain, and be happy to be there. They were always thankful for the excellent care they had received and praised my dad for removing their discomforts. Observing the ways my dad treated his patients on a personal and professional level added to that positive experience.
In high school, I competed in track and field. My teammates often got injured with pulled muscles, shin splints, water in the knee, sprains, tendinitis, etc. While I worked out and competed as hard as my teammates did I did not experience the injuries they did. I attributed this to a steady diet of chiropractic care and good nutrition. I have personally seen the positive results of being raised in a chiropractic and holistic lifestyle. These experiences ultimately lead to the final career decision to become a doctor of chiropractic. After graduating from San Marcos High School and Santa Barbara City College, I moved to Los Angeles. The adventures of undergrad and graduate school began.
Chiropractic Education
Being away from home, I quickly searched for a chiropractor near me. After visiting a few chiropractors, I found one that I liked and later interned for. In 2005 I graduated from Cleveland Chiropractic College of Los Angeles. There I received a Doctorate of Chiropractic and a BS in Human Physiology. After living in Los Angeles for six years, I wasted no time and quickly moved back to Santa Barbara to start my practice.
After a couple of years of building my practice, I started using physiotherapy in conjunction with chiropractic to enhance my patients’ care. Muscle therapy and rehabilitative exercises help strengthen the muscles that support the spine and extremities. As a result, this led to seeing more athletes and sports-related injuries. Injuries not just to the spine, but also shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles. After eight years of doing physiotherapy in my clinic, I noticed a large number of those were gym-related activities. At the time, a manager of Gold’s Gym was a patient. Consequently, she offered me a part-time position to bring my knowledge and experience of injury prevention to educate and assist the trainers at the gym.
In 2015 I got certified as a fitness professional by the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Gold’s Gym invited me to bring my expertise to the gym as a part-time trainer, and I took that on as a hobby, training & educating people there until 2020. I carry three specialist certifications in postoperative orthopedic exercise and injury prevention, golf performance and injury prevention, and mixed martial arts conditioning. To this day I implement different training protocols in conjunction with chiropractic care for my patients. The results I see from my patients still shock me.
On a personal note…
When I’m not treating patients, I busy myself with some type of physical activity. My wife and I enjoy kickboxing, disc golfing, hiking, camping, or enjoying a cold beer at the beach. I busy myself doing health care talks at various businesses and in-office workshops on various health topics at our clinic.
Remember that chiropractic helps more than just neck pain and back pain. I ask that you give me the opportunity to meet you, discuss your specific health challenges, and learn more about how chiropractic can help you and your family.