The Anderson Orthopaedic Clinic

I had a hip replacement here a little over two years ago. They either put in an artificial hip that was too long or did not remove enough of my femur resulting in the leg being 2 centimeters too long. This has had ongoing repercussions with misalignment even though I try to wear a lift in the other shoe. I am sure the doctor should have known given they had multiple X-​rays, what length to use but alas, that was not the case. I also resented the fact that they insisted on outpatient surgery meaning my medical would not pay the 100% hospital fees if I had been admitted, I had to pay $ 5000 dollars out of pocket. In all, I was very unhappy with the experience.

Went with my wife today for her appointment. We arrived about ten minutes before her scheduled time. Front desk staff was very polite and professional. They called her back a few minutes after paper work was completed. The doctors came in and took their time explaining the procedure and answered all the questions we had. I did not feel as if they were rushing us at all. I was a little worried after reading the reviews the night before we went, but glad to say our experience was great.

To start with we waited 1.5 hours to see Dr. Wallach and while I understand that things can happen no one even mentioned that they kept us waiting 1.5 hours past the appointment time never mind an apology. I mentioned this to the receptionist on the way out and she said they had no way of knowing if the Dr’s were on schedule or not and when I asked if we would be seen if we showed up an hour and a half late she said of course not so apparently their time is much more valuable than mine. Once we saw Dr. Wallach he was abrupt and clearly not that interested in my husband’s health issues. I would not recommend this practice unless you have alot of time to kill.

I have only good things to say about Dr. John Albrigo and the folks at Anderson clinic. I have a spine disease, as well degenerative arthritis problems caused by a life as a dancer. I have had to have BOTH my hips completely replaced. Dr. Albrigo has been amazing to work with. His staff patient and confident.
They have been able to work with my payment schedules (I don’t yet have any form of insurance.) They have explained exactly what I should expect, and walked me through every bit of both surgery and post surgery follow-​up. I wouldn’t have anyone else for this kind of procedure!

The wait times to see a PA are extremely long. Only seek their services if you have care in the interim. Their receptionists are extremely rude and find it amusing to make your visit miserable. I’d rather drive to John Hopkins.

Dr. Andy Engh replaced my hip 3 years ago. Although he does not have a good bedside manner, the surgery went well and I had a very good outcome. When I went back to see him for a knee problem, he was very annoyed that the nurse had also taken x-​rays of my hip. The problem was, he took his annoyance out on me! He was so rude. I have always been very upbeat and never complained about anything about my surgery. I don’t know if he was having a bad day or what, but he made me feel horrible by the time I left. If I ever need another surgery, I will see one of his partners who can hopefully behave more professionally.

Don’t go. Rude and obnoxious staff. Long waits. Uncomfortable and inconvenient. Made wait for hour for no reason. Didn’t see doctor and left. They not there to help people

Dr. Saddler is incredibly condescending and rude. He made my aunt feel like he could not help her and there was no hope for her constant hip pain. When I asked about possible medication to help her until we found a better treatment, he looked at me like I was crazy and said «i don’t prescribe medication. I’m a surgeon (as he pointed at his name tag); that’s what i do.» ummm… ok. Me: «Well since ur a surgeon, is surgery an option?» he spun around in his chair and said «well, we don’t quite know the problem yet, do we?!» He had 5 x-​rays in front of him that ALL showed the problem (bone spur)!!! The worst part was when he said «besides, i don’t know too many drs who would rush to do surgery on an 81 year old!» Are u kidding me?!? Who the he## does he think he IS!!! if my aunt weren’t there i would have gone off on him for his lack of compassion (and manners!) the only saving grace is that my aunt has some NORMAL hearing loss and missed what this arrogant as* was saying! Still i felt so bad for her (she’s a saint), and I’m hoping this review will prevent another elderly patient from EVER having to go through the same thing. Stay away from this douchebag!

I can speak volumes about Dr. Nagda. He instilled confidence in both the surgery (rotator cuff/​Shoulder) and in my recovery. His Anderson Clinic support staff I would also rate as A+, very professional, from clinical staff down to the appointment scheduling folks. I had a difficult rotator cuff issue, and Dr. Nagda took the time to explain first the surgery, in terms a lay person can understand — and then milestones in the recovery. Incidentally, he is a resource for many sports teams, including the Washington Nationals, so you know he is highly thought of in the industry.

I am a physician, a surgeon, who needed hand surgery. Maybe because of my profession I don’t need a lot of «hand holding», no pun intended. What I want is a surgeon who knows what they are doing, has a lot of experience and can explain the options. That is what I got with Dr. Lovallo: straight shooter with excellent surgical skills. I recovered 100% function. The support staff is well trained and efficient. Don’t recall if they were particularly warm and friendly, but that doesn’t matter to me when I am the health care consumer.

Dr Wallach fixed my back and now I can once again enjoy my life and pursue my goals. Thank you so much for pain free recovery after surgery.

Reading some of the other reviews on here make me wonder if we all went to the same doctor. I am going to address some of the common trends before posting what I originally meant to post:
1. Long waits: Yes I waited long times. But I wait at other doctors too. And in my experience I was never rushed when I was with the doctor so I can only assume he wasn’t rushing his prior patients. Long waits are worth it for the high quality you’ll receive.
2. Front Desk Demeanor: I never noticed them not being nice. Maybe all it takes is a smile and a nod and they will be nice back. Or maybe you have the wrong expectation? I never had any issues with the desk people.
3. Dr Knowledge/​Arrogance: I never found Dr. Nagda (maybe some of the others are though…)to be rude or arrogant. He explained everything to me in terms I could understand. He was extremely knowledgeable in his field (shoulders) and knew all of the traditional and newer options (both non-​surgical and surgical).
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About 10 months ago Dr. Nagda performed surgery on my shoulder to fix a torn labrum. Today, I am working my way back to 100% and see no reason why I won’t get there completely.
I played baseball, as a pitcher, for my entire life (including college) and put a lot of strain on my shoulder. At my peak I threw as hard as 90mph, but after college when I stopped working out I slowed down to the low 80’s.
However, about 4.5 years ago I injured my shoulder and it slowly deteriorated to the point where I could not throw a ball more than 15 feet without pain. I had lost all ability to play any sports that involved a throwing motion (baseball, softball, volleyball, tennis, etc). Now, 10 months after the surgery I am successfully playing all of these sports.
Dr. Nagda worked with me over the entire process, ruling out every alternative before going in for surgery. My condition, the possible treatments, and the surgery were all well explained to me and we were able to come up with a plan to get me back into playing shape. The surgery went very smoothly and I began physical therapy within 1 week. I am so grateful to have had such a high quality doctor!
P. S. I will likely never reach 90mph ever again, but I am confident that I will be back to my post-​college/​pre-​injury form around the 1 year mark. The PT has been demanding, both physically and mentally, but I’m reaping the benefits of it now that I am throwing again without any pain!!!

No trip to the doctor is perfect. In the DC area, I expect all my appointments to start late and I expect people to exude less than stellar hospitality. If I were rating this practice in Texas, I may rate it lower, but I’m rating this while thinking about other practices in the DC metro area.
The receptionist ladies aren’t warm and friendly, but they do their job efficiently and effectively. After they’ve seen you for a while, they warm up– especially if you give them a reason to do so. I made it a point to be super nice to all three and, after not seeing them for nearly a year, they were all super excited to see me, but all genuinely concerned that I’d been hurt again.
Dr. Nagda’s staff has been great. They’ve almost always been friendly and they’ve always been professional. They have taken numerous phone calls from me and have always followed through with things they’ve said they would do.
As for Dr. Nagda, it’s true, his appointments usually don’t start on time. The reason why is probably because he never rushes his patients. I would rather wait 45 minutes past my appointment time and have my doctor spend half an hour examining me and answering my myriad of questions than get seen on time and only have 8 minutes with my doctor.
I’ve had one surgery on each knee done by him and I couldn’t be happier with his patience and professionalism. From day one, it has seemed like he’s personally invested in my care and in my recovery. He remembers me. He remembers my issues and my concerns. I believe he genuinely cares.
I trust him implicitly and can’t imagine going to anyone else.

Few words can describe the lack of professionalism in this house of horrors. Appointments may run 2hrs behind schedule but since you are about to meet «God» because the arrogance of the doctors can only be interpreted as their personal belief that they are above reproach.
The front desk is impolite and hard to understand because they have difficulty between chewing gum and attending to patients.
In summary, save yourself from the torment and go somewhere else.

In the Anderson clinic you basically go for surgery. And the doctors do the surgical options they know. Great if they suit you. If there are better options, you won’t know them.
II saw Corey Wallach. He is an arrogant man who knows how to fuse bones. And like a child given a hammer, he intends to just use that hammer.
He quickly gets nasty and derogatory with women who ask thoughtful questions. That man is interested in his bottom line!
People need to understand that fusion surgery is forever. Before you let that man change your anatomy for life, look at the many other options that he may not mention.

First time there and I’ll never be back. I had an 8.30am appointment and an hour and a half later at 10.00 am I still wasn’t seen. Staff was unresponsive and didn’t care. Too bad Unilocal doesn’t have a negative one star for rating because that’s what I would rate them. Stay away! Find another place to go!

Gonna go ahead and say probably the worst doctors office experience. The front desk people were wonderful. Very nice group of ladies. Here I thought I was being referred to a good orthopaedic doctor, man was I wrong. I knew something was bad when I was given Dr. Wallachs p.a. she seemed uninterested to have me there. After filling out my paperwork describing the severe amount of pain I was in she sat me down and checked my reflexes… I had to tell her what was going on because she didnt even ask. She said to me after not even checking my back that it wasnt a herniated disc or a pinched nerve. Good thing you checked my back right? Wrong. Prescribed me physically therapy and told me to take Aleve for my SERIOUSLY severe back pain… waste of time. Finding a better, more patient focused second opinion.

I have mixed feeling about the Anderson Orthopaedic Clinic b/​c I myself am a physician and I understand what physicians go through. First off, I am not a patient. My mother had both her knees replaced and her hip replaced by Dr. Engh. He is a not the most talkative of physicians, but he definitely gets his point across and knows how to explain things in a way that makes my mom understand what is going on.
When accompanying my mother to the office, there was a long wait time. It was so long, I had a five o’clock shadow by the time it was done. I did feel kind of annoyed, but I was ok with it b/​c I knew my mom was getting great care. She has had ZERO problems from all her surgeries, and they have truly changed her life. The long wait time is due to the fact that patients ask a lot of questions. At no point did we feel rushed, he spent extra time with my mom, talking about the future and what may happen if she needs revision, since she is fairly young. These are the same questions that my mom asks everytime, and every time Dr. Engh politely and profeesionally answers the questions, without getting annoyed. If patients didn’t wait, then there would be complaints that they feel rushed. The docs are kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place.
I can’t comment on the rest of the physicians in the group, but I can tell you that Dr. Andy Engh is a fabulous physician with great hands. My mom swears by him, and has recommended friends that do the same. If it weren’t for the horrible wait times, I would definitely have given this a 5 star review.

I have a long relationship with Anderson Orthopaedic and I read some of the reviews and wanted to share my experience. I am an über young patient that needed hip replacement for a slipped femoral epiphysis.
The first thing to know is that these guys are in two places– Arlington and Mt Vernon. The Mt. Vernon facility is the place to go for hip or knee join replacement. But I got all my post surgery physical therapy at the Arlington location because it was much closer to my work. As someone mentioned the parking at the Arlington location is terrible.
The doctors are in two places, and the admin staff in the two places don’t seem to communicate much, so if seen in one place, you might have to explain your entire situation to the staff in the other office if you want something at the other location.
The very first time I went there, I saw Dr Frika in Mt Vernon who directly recommended a hip replacement. I decided I wasn’t ready for that and I wanted a second opinion. The good thing about this group is that they support research– I felt good about them because it seems like they are committed to learning and staying current with the latest science.
So I went to see another one of the Anderson physicians– Dr John Albrigo who works out of the Arlington office. The first time I saw Albrigo, he sent me to Tennesee to have hip arthroscopy. Subsequent to that surgery, I was no better (surgery showed I had no cartilage left). My second trip to Dr. Albrigo, he ordered a storied injection for the hip. I got that done at Inova Alexandra. A month later I was no better and went back to Albrigo requesting the hip replacement. He told me he wouldn’t do it because I was «too young.»
I was in a haze of Celebrex and Ultram for a couple months and decided that I couldn’t go on any longer and that I was ready for the replacement. Back to Dr Fricka.
Fricka works out of the Mt Vernon office. He is very professional, when I went back to him a year later (after getting the second opinion from his partner) he was totally cool about it and happy to accommodate my request for surgery. He did a great job with the surgery. He is neat and clean and I was very happy with the surgery he did. The Inova Mt Vernon hospital is recognized as a center of excellence for joint replacement, so if that is what you need, I’d recommend going to the Mt Vernon office and getting them to take care of you. Mt Vernon Inova and Dr Fricka have a beautiful thing going on. They were coordinated and organized. I recommend Dr Fricka to anyone need knee or joint replacement.

Dr Nagda is kind of an ass. Seen him a few times and he is very condescending. He will explain things and I’m sorry, but I’m a patient. Please use laymen terms. If I were to decide on surgery, I need to know exactly what that surgery entails, how long I should expect for recovery… etc. But he expects me to know all that and gets annoyed if you ask questions. He even had the audacity to say «Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth? You don’t seem to understand!»
Ok, maybe I would have laughed if you were Chris Tucker or Jackie Chan. With so many other ortho’s around, I don’t think I will be back. Although, I do have friend’s who have had the same experience with Dr Nagda and switched to other doctor’s and have been satisfied. One saw Dr Branche and loved him and another friend switched to Dr Saddler and had no complaints.
Maybe I’ll switch to one of those doctor’s and we’ll see. Will update if I do.
No bueno Dr Nagda, no bueno!