ABOUT

When he was just a boy, around seven or eight years old, Orthopaedic Surgeon Bob Girling was attending board meetings for a successful home health family business and fully expected to follow his grandmother—an entrepreneur and family matriarch into the business world. But at age 15, Dr. Girling ruptured his spleen during a snowboarding accident and was airlifted from the top of a mountain to a hospital where his career path veered in another direction.

As an undergraduate, when a family friend—a plastic surgeon—invited him to observe and later assist in the operating rooms he owned, Dr. Girling knew he was hooked. “The time I spent with him proved I was meant to be in the OR,” says Dr. Girling.

Dr. Girling, who is deeply rooted in the San Antonio community, completed his medical degree—where he was honored with the Charles A. Rockwood, Jr. Student Award for Excellence in Orthopaedics—orthopaedic surgery residency and fellowship in adult reconstruction surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Specializing in adult reconstructive surgery—notably full and partial knee and hip replacement and revision surgery, Dr. Girling is a strong proponent of shared decision-making—and even co-developed an interactive tool to help patients fully understand their treatment options as well as pre-operative and post-operative care requirements.

Dr. Girling joined Sports Medicine Associates of San Antonio in November 2017.