Greater Austin Orthopaedics

I hate having to write a one star review. But that was my experience and had I am very grateful that I sought out multiple opinions after seeing Dr. Chen at GAO. (James Casey St location.) Each visit I waited between 30 – 60 mins. In the patient room with Dr Chen I was rushed and he wasn’t willing to take the time to really describe what was going on — maybe a 5 – 10 minute talk max.
I saw Dr. Chen three times last fall. In retrospect I’m not sure why I ever went to him… probably because their website says he is an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine and I thought I had a sports injury.
To sum it up, x-​rays were taken of my hips. Dr Chen explained that my «hip joints don’t fit together well and I should expect arthritis» much younger than normal. Btw, I’m a healthy 25 year old visiting him for chronic hip pain aggravation. Essentially after PT and an MRI he recommended that I was a candidate for a scope and it should help relieve my pain.
By the time I got a third opinion i was properly diagnosed with relatively severe hip dysplasia. It is REALLY EASY to look at a regular X-​ray and measure the angle for hip dysplasia. Dr Chen did not notice this OBVIOUS diagnosis and recommended a surgery that is CLEARLY contraindicated.
If i had followed his advice I would have had a surgery that would have FAILED and made my condition progressively worse.

I first saw Dr Chen, because he is said to specialize in sports medicine. Right off the the bat he was rude to me. He said I was moving at too slow a pace to be called a runner. That was an unnecessary and rude «assessment» that served only to invalidate my efforts. Needless to say I did not return to him. I did, however, return to GAO. I saw Dr Smith because I learned he was also a runner and might be more helpful. Two xrays and an MRI later, Dr Smith would only tell me he didn’t know what was wrong, and I should just stop running. He offered me no suggestions for how else to alleviate my pain. No referrals to physical therapy, no thoughts on stretching, etc. Just «don’t run.» What really irks me though is that on top of the poor experience and wasted money they also signed me up for an email newsletter that is impossible to unsubscribe from. Who cares about a newsletter from an orthopedist office?! Not me. (For the record, soon after Dr Smith basically shrugged me away I saw another doctor who was able to alleviate my pain and set me on a path to rehabilitation, which allowed me to complete the half marathon I was training for.)

I chose GAO because of their proximity to me. I needed to have surgery on my shoulder (calcific tendonitis) and had no idea where to go. I found them through my insurance company’s website.
I tried finding ratings on the Dr. who would perform my surgery (Todd Smith) and found only one or two sites that did nothing to put my mind at ease.
Let me put your mind at ease. Dr. Todd Smith is awesome. Some of the reviews you will read will say his bedside manner is not this or that. I wasn’t worried about his bedside manner, I wanted a good surgeon. I found one. I would recommend him to ANYONE. Just before I went in to surgery I was told by the prep nurse that this surgery came with more pain than open heart surgery. I followed their instructions on care and taking the pain meds after surgery to the «T».
Yesterday was the day AFTER my surgery and the pain is less than what made me go in for the surgery. I am moving my arm and shoulder on my own and I don’t even go to physical therapy until tomorrow. Oh, and I stopped the pain meds due to nausea so I’m feeling the results of the surgery. Not too bad.
Dr. Todd Smith is AWESOME. I would not only recommend him but I would use him again if I need to have another surgery.
I know this review is supposed to be about GAO, and I have nothing bad to say about them either. The office staff were all friendly and extremely helpful.
5 stars and they earned each of them.

I have had what seems like a long standing relationship with the folks at Greater Austin Orthopedics. My first visit to GAO was about 2−½ years ago when I dislocated my shoulder. Since then I have undergone two total knee replacements which were performed by Dr. Chen — I couldn’t be happier with the results. After each surgery I underwent 3+ months of physical therapy in the GAO North Austin PT unit. James and Debbie get 5 stars for the excellent therapy I received while under their care.