Robert Grunfeld, MD

Foot & Ankle

Serving patients in Wyoming since 2015, Dr. Robert Grunfeld is a fellowship-trained orthopedic foot and ankle surgeon who joined Black Hills Orthopedic & Spine Center in 2020. From ankle fractures, heel pain, and bunions to nerve pain, flatfeet, and diabetic ulcers, Dr. Grunfeld is very proud to take care of patients in the great community of Gillette, Wyoming, and the surrounding areas. He sees patients for common and complex foot and ankle needs—such as arthritis, pain, deformities, trauma, and sports or workplace injuries—and offers the highest level of surgical and nonsurgical care, including minimally invasive repair procedures and ankle replacement.

In his practice, Dr. Grunfeld takes the time to understand where patients are coming from and how their condition relates to the entire context of their life. His approach is to try more conservative therapies first and surgical intervention when necessary, and his care philosophy is based on the principle of treating each patient as if they were a family member. He serves patients through our specialized, advanced Foot & Ankle Center of Excellence.

Dr. Grunfeld moved from Germany to Canada at the age of 14 and stayed to complete undergraduate work in industrial organizational psychology in Ontario. He worked in an Alzheimer’s disease research lab as a coordinator for a year and then attended Penn State College of Medicine and completed his residency at Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Dr. G, as he’s nicknamed by his colleagues and patients, fell in love with orthopedic surgery right away and was awed at the potential this specialty had in getting patients back to their normal, active life.

After his residency in orthopedic surgery, Dr. Grunfeld went on to complete a foot and ankle fellowship at the University of Rochester in New York. This eminent program consisted of direct mentorship under five different academic foot and ankle surgeons, several of whom are world-renowned surgeons, including the first female president of the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society, Dr. Judith Baumhauer. The diversity in procedures, approaches, and treatment algorithms has provided Dr. Grunfeld with a complete tool set and options with which to serve his patients with the best possible care, and his lifelong love of learning keeps him exploring new options and continually improving and fine-tuning surgical techniques.

Dr. Grunfeld earned his board certification in orthopedic surgery in 2018 and has published in numerous peer-reviewed journals on research in ankle arthritis and wound healing, and he has also developed a new technique for reconstruction of the deltoid ligament. He previously served as a Department of Surgery Chair and Medical Executive Committee member at Campbell County Memorial Hospital.

As a young boy growing up in Germany, Dr. Grunfeld secretly wanted to be a cowboy. He got his wish when he and his wife, Beth Stephens, made Gillette their permanent home in 2015. Dr. Grunfeld, his wife, and their two young girls are all 307-proud. When he’s not seeing patients, Dr. Grunfeld enjoys taking advantage of all the region has to offer, including mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, and whitewater rafting.

Academic Information

Undergraduate

• University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, 2002

Graduate School

• University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, 2004

Medical School

• Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, 2009

Residency

• Orthopedic Surgery, PennState Health, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, 2014

Fellowship

• Foot and Ankle, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, 2015

Certification

• American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery

Professional Memberships

• American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
• American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society

Medical Interests

• Achilles ruptures, tendinitis, and tendinosis
• Adult and pediatric ankle, foot, heel, and Lisfranc fractures, including stress fractures
• Ankle, heel, and chronic foot pain
• Ankle, hindfoot, and midfoot arthritis
• Ankle replacements (total ankle arthroplasty)
• Ankle sprains and instability
• Big toe arthritis (hallux rigidus)
• Diabetic foot wounds/ulcers/infections
• Exertional compartment syndrome
• Foot deformities, including bunions (hallux valgus), cavovarus deformity (high arches), flatfoot (pronation), and hammertoes
• Minimally invasive foot and ankle surgery (MIS)
• Nerve-related conditions, including Morton’s neuroma, nerve entrapment, peripheral neuropathy, and tarsal tunnel syndrome
• Orthopedic trauma
• Plantar fasciitis
• Sesamoiditis
• Talus OCD (osteochondral dissecans) lesions
• TOPAZ^◊ microtenotomy for plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendinitis