Dr. K Donald Shelbourne, MD

Dr. Shelbourne is my hero! I tore my ACL at work and had ACL surgery with another doctor. After several months of physical therapy and work conditioning, my extension and flexion were terrible, so the same doctor performed a second surgery because he said I had an impingement. After a couple more months of physical therapy, my extension was still terrible, and I walked with a bent knee. The doctor didn’t care and told me it was probably arthritis, and I would have to live like that for five years until I could have knee replacement surgery. I went to Dr. Shelbourne, and he knew right away what was wrong with my knee. Two weeks after Dr. Shelbourne performed my surgery; I was walking better than I had been since my first surgery. After this ordeal, I would never go to another doctor who doesn’t sub-specialize in the specific treatment area. I can not thank Dr. Shelbourne enough

I am 55 and went to the Knee Center for help with my knees due to deterioration from arthritis. They rushed me thru and said I was not a surgery candidate and threw me to PT which did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to help with the pain etc. A year later I have had a partial knee replacement by another doctor who took more time to listen to me. SUCCESS I have my life back! The Knee Center may be great for people with sports injuries but I do not recommend them for people with arthritis. They just do not seem to care about us!

Been fighting my knee injury for 3 months saw an Ortho doc who was recommended. Turns out not to have been best way to go. Simply see a knee Doctor if you have knee problems not a bone doctor

I made an appointment at Methodist Sports Medicine in Indianapolis back in the year 2000. After 2 of the doctors there gave me conflicting, hesitant diagnosis, I was advised to schedule an appointment with the "best" doctor at the facility: Dr K Shelbourne. I told Dr Shelbourne of my history of knee problems related to my involvement in amateur MMA. Dr Shelbourne told me the MRI results were inconclusive, and that he did not believe anything was wrong with either of my knees. I told him I believed I had damage in both knees, and I told him about the instability I had been experiencing in both knees since my initial injuries. Undaunted by my colloquial description of the symptoms of ligament tears, he stood by his diagnosis. Dr Shelbourne even raised up the leg of his pants to show me one of his knees. He manipulated his knee joint to show me how unstable it was. Dr Shelbourne told me "I tore my ACL and look how much more unstable my knee is than either of yours." Dr Shelbourne went on… to tell me he had no plans to ever surgically correct his own knee injury. THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN A RED FLAG. I insisted there was damage to both my knees and again asked if Dr Shelbourne would help me. He asked which knee was "giving me the most trouble". I told him (right knee) and he said, "I guess I could scope it." The office staff at Methodist Sports Med tried to get me to pay for the surgery in advance even though I had excellent insurance. I refused. They again tried to solicit payment in advance, this time attempting to secure a deposit. I refused once again. SECOND RED FLAG. Immediately prior to surgery Dr Shelbourne came to me in the pre-op area and asked if I "wanted to go through with this." He was rude and condescending. THIRD RED FLAG. I told him to proceed. He actually smirked and rolled his eyes. After waking up from exploratory arthroscopic surgery, I was told "I took out a bit of cartilage which was what was causing you that bit of pain you were feeling." I was discharged with no pain prescription, and no post operative care instructions. I was called by the office staff in about a week to schedule my ONE physical therapy appointment. After completing my only PT appointment, I was told "I was fine and everything was fixed." Everything was not fixed. Both my knees were painful and very unstable. Running out of ideas and options, I sought out Dr Frank Noyes who was then practicing out of Cincinnati Sports Med. Dr Noyes merely needed to manipulate each of my knees to give his diagnosis: an ACL tear in each knee. Dr Noyes did in 30 seconds what 3 other doctors could not. Dr Noyes advised repairing my right knee first as it had been previously been operated on (by Dr Shelbourne). After surgery Dr Noyes said the ACL in my right knee had suffered a complete tear and that my body had reabsorbed the torn loose ligament tissue. My ACL in my right knee was totally gone; bear in mind Dr Shelbourne was INSIDE MY KNEE WITH A SCOPE (which he used to record video footage of the surgery) AND COULD NOT FIND ANYTHING WRONG OTHER THAN SOME TORN CARTILAGE. Dr Noyes performed successful ACL reconstruction on both my knees. I am not the litigious type, so I went on with my life thankful that I had functional knees once again. Dr Shelbourne is a rude, arrogant, condescending, INCOMPETENT excuse for a medical doctor. I sincerely hope people read this true and factual account of my experience with Dr Shelbourne and avoid his medical practice at any cost.

Have been goin to him for many years. Wouldn't want anyone else to work on my knees. He is the best.

Dr Shelbourne has been taking care of my knees for over 15 years. I came to him after a brutal hit in Football where I tore my MCL. Dr Shelbourne gave me the grim news that it was indeed torn but that I wouldn't require surgery. With his office and physical therapy staff, I was able to play my final two games of my career. My family has been going to Dr Shelbourne for this long for many reasons. If you need anything done on your knee, you owe it to yourself to see Dr Shelbourne. In my opinion, he is simply the best there is.

Dr.Urich reminds me of the big fat bully from school. He repaired an acl and meniscus tear on my daughter last Wednesday. After surgery in his smart alec way he explained very briefly what he did and asked if I had any questions. I asked one and he acted like I was an idiot for asking. THIS PRACTICE DOES NOT BELIEVE IN STRONG PAIN MEDS AND YOU WILL SUFFER TREMEMDOUSLY FOLLOWING SURGERY. They only gave tylenol,aleve and ultram. All useless. My daughter has broken both ankles and shattered her knee cap and I have never seen her cry in this much pain. I called and told them her pain was in tolerable. In his most condescending way, he told me "look she is going to be in pain today and tomorrow!" Like I was stupid. A 1st grader knows that. He made us pay in advance so he got his money and he is done. Today is the 5th day and she is still in unbelievable pain. Unless you like pain, DO NOT GO TO THESE SO CALLED DOCTORS. I don't know how much money if cost them to get the awards, I am guessing… a lot. One of my clients had knee surgery there in summer 2010 and had to go to Indiana Universtiy Hospital to have the screw up repaired in the spring of 2011. I wish I had known that. Take heed and run as fast as you can away from these people. Oh and I even signed a paper that said I had the right to have our pain relieved, yea right!!!

Shelbourne repaired my ACL. He strongly recommended surgery. Three months post-op I recovered quickly. During follow-ups, he brought in new potential customers to show them how well they could expect to do. At six months, the bone graft pulled out, rendering the surgery a failure. He then changed his prognosis: "Your ACL-deficient knee isn't that unstable. Even with a successful surgery you still shouldn't be playing high-risk activities like skiing or basketball so I recommend that you do not get another surgery." Also, I found out that he did not include my surgery as a failure in his statistics because I was technically non-compliant with his therapy plan at six months (even though he was showing me off as a success story to new potential customers). Basically, his surgery failed, and he kicked me out the door as fast as he could. I understand now why he reports 95%+ success rates while other ACL surgeons report mid 80s... he uses sample bias to exclude his failures.

I have travelled from out of town 3 times to see Dr. Shelbourne when a local orthopedic surgeon had diagnosed an issue and wanted to perform surgery. All three times Dr. Shelbourne has looked at the x-rays/MRIs, expained what is going on, and recommended against surgery. He definitely believes that surgery has a place in treating knee problems, but in my case has recommended against it and given me exercises/stretches. In all 3 cases my knee has improved dramatically with a little time and exercise. I can't recommend a doctor more highly than I'd recommend Dr Shelbourne. He is incredible.