Hip, knee and shoulder replacements are commonplace in Steamboat Springs, where many residents and visitors have devoted their lives to an active, outdoor lifestyle. The wear and tear on the body often catches up with people as they age.

That’s part of what Dr. Bryan Bomberg loves so much about his job — fixing people so they can return to doing the things they love. Since 1993, Dr. Bomberg has been a familiar face to thousands of patients who have experienced an orthopaedic injury in the Yampa Valley.

“I also have a left total-knee replacement, so I’ve gotten a chance to experience the wonders of orthopaedic work,” he said.

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Dr. Bomberg, sports medicine/adult reconstructive specialist at Steamboat Orthopaedics and Spine Institute (SOSI), now focuses his practice on hip, knee and shoulder replacements, and hip arthroscopy. He still practices sports medicine, but hip and knee replacements are his passion these days.

 

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Adapting and innovating

From learning new techniques from pioneer surgeons — “That’s how you really increase your skill level the best,” he said — to incorporating innovative products that improve surgical outcomes, Dr. Bomberg approaches his practice as both an expert and a lifelong student.

He recalls when surgeons switched to doing hip replacements from an anterior approach — which, research shows, leads to an easier, more rapid recovery — and how it was “a complete reorientation of our thoughts.” Given the success of the new approach, he knew it was the only way to go.

“I did a lot of cadaver labs and also operated with the most-experienced surgeons in the field,” he said. “My patients are able to resume many, if not all, the activities they did before their joint replacement.”

Dr. Bomberg said he learned during his medical residency very few of the procedures and techniques he uses today. That’s because medicine is continuously evolving.

“It’s this balance of trying to be the best but not changing too quickly to something that might be unproven,” he said, “but you also don’t want to be so behind the curve that you’re outdated.”

Fellowship training, Air Force service

Dr. Bomberg attended the University of Colorado School of Medicine and completed his residency in orthopaedic surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Fellowship training was something Dr. Bomberg knew he wanted to do after medical school. It was a way to dedicate himself to a specialty within orthopaedics. Dr. Bomberg also had a commitment to the U.S. Air Force to serve after his training. He got the go-ahead to become the first Air Force orthopaedic surgeon to complete a sports medicine/reconstruction fellowship. He did this at the Harvard program of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

“I think, as information and technology kept exploding, people recognized you couldn’t be an expert at everything,” he said reflecting on his fellowship. “Certainly, there’s a lot of care that any generalist can do — things we do over and over, such as setting wrist fractures — these things are very routine and general. But then you get into specialties where you want a doctor who just does those one or two things — they’re going to deliver the best care possible.”