Nikolaj Wolfson, MD, FRCSC, FACS

Dr Nikolaj Wolfson did a bilateral knee replacement for me in Dec ’13. I am 58 in reasonably good health, a little overweight. I was walking without aid on Day 4, back to work (desk job) from home on Week 4, back to the office on Week 6. Today the only bother is if I push too hard and sometimes going down stairs, but movement is 95% without pain now. WHAT A RELIEF! Dr Wolfson is lively, easy to talk to, easy to work with. I saw many other docs over the years and he’s by far the friendliest and obviously quite skillful. I’m very glad he was recommended to me by another professional. I hope to never go thru this again, but he’d be the man I’d go to if needed. This guy deserves 5 GOLD stars.

I went to Dr. Wolfson just for a second opinion because there was some confusion in the ER over whether my ankle was fractured or sprained. I expected him to be annoyed that I came to him for something so silly so I quickly started telling my story with few details. He slowed me down and got all the details about not only my injury but my lifestyle, past medical history completely unrelated to my ankle, and really took his time and listened & wrote down everything I said. The appointment itself was very short, just because my ankle was not broken, but I didn’t feel like he was rushing, he really seemed to care. The other staff in the office were nice and scheduling was not a problem.

A year and a half ago, my son broke his arm on Thanksgiving morning. He was only 4 years old and it was very difficult for us as a family. We took him to CPMC and we were so fortunate that Dr. Wolfson was on call that day for orthopedics. He was called in and informed us that my son needed surgery (the ER doctor had reviewed my son’s xray and determined no surgery was needed). Dr. Wolfson was just amazing at explaining to us what was needed and why. He was so sensitive in handling our stress and my son’s pain. The surgery went very smooth and Dr. Wolfson was super available and responsive to us in all the follow up appointments. Since it was a holiday weekend, he provided us with his cell phone number and constantly provided support and answered our questions and calls. We are forever grateful that Dr. Wolfson was there that day and we would unconditionally recommend him to anyone in need. He’s an incredibly accomplished doctor and a sensitive person to top it off. Really an amazing doctor.

After seeing 4 different doctors, I finally found a doctor who would answer my questions and consider my overall health — not just my painful knees. What a blessing to find a doctor who does not treat you like just another chart or unknown person.
I highly recommend him if you need a good Ortho — my doctor retired and I am so glad I found Dr. Wolfson.

Dr, Wolfson treated me twice after broken hip replacement and broken wrist, it was my luck that Dr. Wolfson treated me. I never met before the so brilliant sergeant and physician so devoted to his profession .His slogan always been Patients First. Thank you DOCTOR.
Larisa U.

Dr. Wolfson treated me and my son over the last few years (thankfully nothing very serious) and we found not just a doctor in him but a true partner in health. He always takes the time to listen, is very attentive and takes his time to explain options. It’s rare to find someone with such great personality, medical knowledge and clinical experience all at once. I highly recommend Dr. Wolfson.

Dr. Wolfson is as professional, kind, and caring as they get. We highly recommend him as an orthopedist/​orthopedic surgeon.

Dr. Wolfson’s orthopedic skills are unsurpassed!
I had problems with my knees for at least a decade. It all started when I started experiencing sharp pains in my keen caps whilst playing soccer when I was in my early 30’s. The pain was so debilitating that I had to stop playing soccer and virtually every other sport that required my knees to absorb force or shock. In other words, I could not run or jump.
Initially, I was the patient of an orthopedic surgeon affiliated with Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City. He diagnosed that my Patellas (knee caps) were were slightly off alignment causing the early deterioration of the cartilage behind my patellas causing a form of arthritis. The surgeon deduced that I needed to have two patella tendon lateral release arthroscopic surgeries in order to slightly loosen my patellas so they align properly and relieve the strain and pain. Since it was posed as a «minor» surgery, I started with surgery on my left knee to be followed by a subsequent similar surgery on my right knee six months later. After recovery from the initial surgery, I quickly realized that the surgery did not relieve the pain.
Since I wasn’t satisfied with the result, I changed surgeons and became a patient of one of the more renowned Orthopedic surgeons in the Bay Area. He came highly recommended since he was a doctor at Stanford Hospital and was one of the orthopedic surgeons for the local NFL teams. Upon consulting with the second surgeon, he also concurred with the initial surgeon and recommended the same surgery on the right knee and suggested that I also repeat the surgery on my left knee to be a little more aggressive with the lateral releases in order to further align the patellas. Over the next few months, I had two more knee surgeries at Stanford Hospital to release my patella tendons. Unfortunately, none of the three surgeries provided any relief from pain in my knees.
As a result of these surgeries, my patellas were extremely loose and my knees were unstable occasionally buckling while walking. I gave up on surgeries and thought I’d have to endure week knees for the rest of y life or until I have to have a full knee replacements later in life.
About 10 years later, I slipped and fell down my stairs at home and easily tore my quadriceps tendons in both knees as a result unstable knees from the previous surgery. I was fortunate that Dr. Wolfson was the orthopedic surgeon on duty at Mills-​Peninsula Hospital’s Emergency Room when I arrived there by ambulance. After Dr. Wolfson confirmed that I indeed tore of my quadriceps tendons, he scheduled emergency surgery to reconstruct my knees the following day. I hadn’t met Dr. Wolfson previously and did not have any references for him so I researched him on Google and was pleasantly surprised with what I learned about him, his experience with trauma, and his volunteer work with the American Society of Orthopedic Surgeons for the victim of the Earthquake in Haiti. (See article:
). After reading this article, it really put my situation into perspective. I figured that If Dr. Wolfson could perform life saving surgeries in such a challenging theater in Haiti, then I must be in good hands here in California.
Little did I know that my fortune was about to change when everything appeared so dire. The day following my surgeries, Dr. Wolfson visited me in my hospital room to debrief me on the results of the surgeries that started at 9:30 PM and concluded at 2:30 AM. He explained that my knees were in worse conditions that he had imagined as a result of the previous three surgeries. He explained that not only did he repair the torn quadriceps tendons, he had to reconstruct and patch my knees because the previous surgeons had left «windows» in my knees allowing fluid to build up and flow rampantly. I found that curious and asked him to explain what he meant and what he did to patch my knees. At the time he explained it, I was still somewhat sedated and a bit incoherent from the pain and painkillers.
Dr. Wolfson ordered that I do not stand or walk (100% non-​weight bearing) for at least 6 weeks. It was tough being bedridden for 6 weeks. Exactly six weeks from the date of surgery, I stood with the aid of crutches for the first time for about 10 minutes and thought it would take a long time to recover. The next day, I stood and walked for about 15 minutes. The third day, I stood and walked for 30 minutes as I gained confidence in my knees. I am so surprised at the success of Dr. Wolfson’s surgeries. Although am still going through lengthy rehabilitation, there is a drastic difference in the stability of my knees following the surgeries. Prior to the surgeries that Dr. Wolfson performed, my patellas were so loose. Now they are as stable as they were twenty years ago and also pain free. Thank you Dr. Wolfson!

Sorry in advance for this long review, but I wanted to be clear on why I think Dr. Wolfson is a 5 (and it’s not b/​c it’s all perfect)…
After breaking my ankle last summer, while away from home, I had to have emergency surgery and get plates & screws put in. Since then, it’s been a terrible — oftentimes depressing and very frustrating — series of months of rehab in hopes that I will one day be able to walk normally like before, not even to mention being able to run or workout. My simultaneous weight gain and loss of muscle mass over the past 7 months since has been especially horrifying, too. Gross.
When the time came to get a 2^nd opinion (after going to a different orthopedist here in SF — who was fine but too conservative in treatment for my tastes), I learned of Dr. Wolfson and his recent arrival to N CA. What I really liked about him was his willingness to answer all of my prepared questions (I’m the type of patient who literally comes in with a long list so I won’t forget to ask anything) and more importantly, his willingness to take a more aggressive approach to my rehab, which was based upon my age and healthy, active lifestyle.
He lamented that the prior ortho had me immobilized for way too long (i.e., doc #1 was too conservative — and no, he was NOT slamming doc #1 in any way), which basically delayed my recovery, contributing to limiting my range of motion and increasing joint stiffness & muscle atrophy. Regardless, he truly preached the power of the mind and positive thinking, and consistently reminded me of mind-​over-​matter and the simple things I could do to accelerate my recovery.
Anyway… fast-​forwarding to the present, he ultimately removed my hardware, even worked to fix my ugly scars from round 1, and carried an outgoing, kind personality along the way. Dr. Wolfson is exceptionally experienced but is new to our area, so he’s just making a name for his practice out here in SF; nevertheless, I’m sure his reputation will quickly establish itself nicely.
And, the Not-​So-​Perfect pieces about this practice:
1) He only does clinic on Mondays, which can be inconvenient for scheduling.
2) He is one of the docs at SF Multi Specialty Medical Group (
), which means a shared — and very chaotic — front office atmosphere, staff and waiting room.
3) He’s really busy and oftentimes hurried. He will answer his cell phone for surgery prep calls during your appt, so just a heads up on that. It doesn’t seem to distract him, but I hadn’t experienced that before, so I was surprised when it happened during one of my appts where we were reviewing X-​rays.
4) The office does not have in-​house imaging, so if you need an MRI or X-​rays done, you have to go offsite and then remember to bring your disk in. This is really inconvenient, esp if you’re elderly, on crutches, or otherwise having difficulty moving around.
I still anxiously await the ability to run again one day, but I do feel I’m under great care with Dr. Wolfson.

GREAT Orthopedic surgeon. Look no further. My son broke his clavicle playing football. Needless to say he was in lots of pain and not very compliant with his home care. He saw Dr. Nik Wolfson on his second visit. Dr. Wolfson has great bedside manners, very personable, attentive and patient. Later i found out that he is considered one of the best Ortho surgeon. He is also a big humanitarian, he volunteered in Haiti. I completely trust him as a doctor.