[2] Kihlstedt held various assistant physician and teaching assistant positions between 1922 and 1928, including at Solna nursing home [sv] in Solna in 1924, in neurology at the Serafimerlasarettet's neurology clinic in Stockholm from 1924 to 1926 and in psychiatry at Stockholm Hospital [sv] from 1926 to 1928.

[3] Kihlstedt began his medical military career in 1924 when he became a fältläkarstipendiat ("field surgeon student") in the reserve.

Kihlstedt served as a battalion surgeon in Kronoberg Regiment's detachment in Karlskrona [sv] from 1928 to 1939.

[2] He was thus also a surgeon at the Swedish State Railways, at the National Swedish Railway Board's (Järnvägsstyrelsen) first district for the Machinery Department's staff at Stockholm Central Station, the section superintendents offices in Stockholm and the travel agency.

In 1928, Kihlstedt married Annie Emmy Charlotta Scheutz (1898–1986), the daughter of Komminister H. T. S. and Anna Johansson.