Dr. Wolgin is an orthopaedic surgeon with specialty training in both spinal and foot and ankle problems.

Unfortunately, we must close our practice as of April 2025.

No new patients will be added, and we have done no surgeries after January 2025.  We plan to close our doors as of April 30, 2025.

While our practice would run best with six physicians, we have done our best to get by with three since June '23.  However, due to the economic factors beyond our control of decreasing reimbursements, increased costs of doing business, and especially bad faith insurance company behavior, along with difficulty recruiting new physicians to Albany, our practice has become economically non-viable.

Orthopaedic Associates has been in Albany since 1958, and closing our doors is done with great sadness, reluctance, and is the last thing we wanted to do.  We have loved taking care of our patients and working with our employees, and will be as cooperative as possible in this time of transition.

Please do your best to get your records and images before we disappear.

UPDATE:  As most patients have asked me where I am going, here is an update as of Feb 17, 2025:

Though I thought it would be the easiest recruit ever for Phoebe to hire me (doctors are not lining up to come to Albany, I'm already here, have credentials and hospital privileges, would bring business to the hospital, and there are plenty of people who can vouch for the quality of my work), the offer from Phoebe was that they feel they have spine covered, and would consider hiring me but only to do foot/ankle, and even though since '06 I have been primarily a spine surgeon, no spine.

Though they are free to hire whomever they want, and in the context of Phoebe having a mission to serve the community, I found their decision perplexing.  If they had spine covered for the community, I would have been out of business, just like with my foot/ankle expertise, if I had that area covered, there would be no podiatrists.  I still receive calls as recently as last week for a spine procedure that their neurosurgeons don't do, and I have helped ortho covering call.  I had the impression that adding me would be a win-win, but apparently they didn't agree.

I will try to keep my patients informed about where I wind up as I don't feel like fully retiring just yet.

Our office previously has provided evaluation services for neck, back, and extremity pain with options for both non-surgical and surgical treatment options, and also interventional pain management (injections).

Click here for MW blog.

Non-Surgical Treatments:

Medications/Physical Therapy/Fitness:
Realizing that, like for any friend or family member, our goal is to feel better as soon as possible, in the manner that is the least invasive possible, we have an initial focus on non-operative care.
Medications can relieve symptoms.  Physical therapy emphasizes strengthening body core and postural muscles. Other pain relief modalities (manipulation, ultrasound, e-stim) are often also effective in relieving symptoms.

Pain Relief:

Aside from medications, various injections and procedures are available to help our patients manage their pain including epidural injections, facet blocks, selective nerve root blocks, radiofrequency ablation (burning the involved pain sensing nerves), and discography.
However, for patients looking for management with pain medications, physicians who prescribe pain medications are currently being targeted by government authorities:  click here.

Surgery:

Options focus on minimal tissue disruption and quicker recovery as can occur with minimally invasive techniques, with approaches to the spine from the front (anterior), the side (lateral), or from the back (posterior).

In many cases, the surgery can be done in OrthoCare, our ambulatory surgery center.

HOWEVER, we live in a new world where insurance controls the care, not doctors.

In my experience with the trend getting worse over the last several years, patient care decisions are increasingly made by for-profit insurance companies, and not so much by doctors.
The only way for patients to be empowered is to know what they're facing.

I have been working on a page where I show examples of the challenges I face these days trying to get care approved for patients (click below):

The insurance company is actually your doctor.

About me:

Abbreviated CV available here:

EDUCATION/TRAINING:
Undergraduate degree: BS, Biology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 1982.

Medical School: School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 1986.

Internship: Harbor/UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, 1987.

Residency, Orthopaedic Surgery, Harbor/UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, 1992.

FELLOWSHIPS (extra focused training):
Foot/ankle: University of TX Southwestern, Dallas, TX, 1993.

Spinal Disorders:  Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, 2003.

Note: The information contained on this website is general medical information. This information is not meant to be medical advice regarding any specific symptoms or medical conditions. Medical care is very individualized, and if you have any questions or concerns about your medical condition, please contact a physician immediately. No statement on this website is intended to diagnose or recommend specific medical care for an individual patient situation.