Kirstina Olson, MD

I have nothing but applause for Dr. Olsen. Patience, exact, experienced and knowledgable. She performed surgery to remove a Mortons Neuroma on my foot, and the PAIN IS GONE. Her staff is helpful and the entire experience was non-​stressful. So thankful that she is at UCSF.

Dr Olson is a rock star! She repaired my worn out and unstable ankle. I have been a RN for almost 30 years and have worked with allot of surgeons. She is a great role model for how it is supposed to be done. She took the time to answer all of my questions and she has a really great support staff. I am really glad my surgery is behind me but if my tired and worn feet start giving me grief again, I know where to go!

Dr. Olson and her staff at UCSF are the best. After several terrible experiences with other providers, I was so grateful to find her. I will be returning to for future care and strongly recommend her.

I had a broken tib/​fib with malunion and nonunion of fracture, pretty bad. No one in my hometown could fix me and things were grim. Luckily for me I wound up with Dr. Olson at UCSF. My surgery was done perfectly and with the help of the staff I am recovering nicely 6 months later. I can barely believe I am walking and functioning well, and continuing to get better. Highly recommended! See Dr. Olson and don’t give up!

Dr. Olson, her staff, and UCSF were exceptional from the first visit on. My pre-​care, surgery, and post-​care were perfection. Most importantly my surgery outcome was a perfect ankle reconstruction. I felt like I was in Narnia. I was in the best of hands with Dr. Olson and did a fair amount of research to see how other patients felt about her. I have absolutely nothing to report negatively. I feel the Universe sent me to her and I am so deeply grateful.

After two previous surgeries on my left foot that failed to correct a very painful problem, I was fortunate to find Dr. Olson at UCSF after searching the Internet. I was wary of any surgeon by this time, but after meeting with Dr. Olson and her staff I was guardedly optimistic. She was very thorough and detailed in her assessment of my foot, and included X-​rays and MRI scanning. She explained about the recommended surgery and her confidence about the outcomes were much more promising than my previous experiences with doctors. The surgery went very well and the recovery period went just as she predicted. After 3 months I am nearly back to normal and my foot is better than ever. Not only do I feel she did a great job but my physical therapist asked for Dr. Olson’s contact information so he could refer patients to her. Bottom line if you want a brilliant surgeon, go to Dr. Olson.

Dr. Olson is the Best of The Best. I recently broke my ankle in 2 places requiring a plate, 6 screws and a pin. Dr. Olson and staff did an immaculate job– the X-​Rays showed perfect alignment of the hardware. Recovery was also very quick and I contribute part of this to the fine work. On follow up Dr. Olson has communicated expectations well in addition to making sure I had proper documentation for work, DMV, etc. Highly Recommended.

Dr Olson is an excellent, very talented surgeon and has the reputation of the best foot/​ankle MD in Northern California. I had foot pain for over 5 years and 2 prior surgeries by other doctors without relief of that pain. Dr Olson took the time to listen to me, make her surgical recommendations and fully explain the surgical process and post surgical recovery process. She was energetic, intelligent, caring and just a super nice person!
All the staff at the UCSF Ortho Institute were wonderful, friendly and helpful and the facility is great. The entire experience went smoothly and thankfully my foot is now finally pain free. If you have a foot/​ankle problem you can go to UCSF Ortho with fullest confidence.

THE BEST!
Dr. Olson and the team at the UCSF Ortho Institute are skilled, knowledgeable, personable and compassionate. I have had ankle issues for more than 3 years. Rather than rushing me into surgery, Dr. Olson gave me information to help me evaluate my choices. For 3 years, I was able to manage my pain thru a combination of cortisone shots, accupuncture, hypnosis, tramadol and equi-​block. (And she doesn’t judge Eastern medicine, either). When it became evident that the situation was getting worse, we decided on an ankle fusion surgery, but only after several informed visits with both Dr. Olson and her colleague Dr. Coughlin. The surgery went extremely well, the UCSF hospital visit was phenomenal (3 surgeons overseeing my surgery!) and the follow-​up (from every level — receptionist, assistant, Dr. Olson, Dr. Coughlin) has been thorough. Dr. Olson even encourages me to use technology to contact her (what a concept!). I am currently on crutches but am looking forward to the day — about 6 weeks from now — to be pain free. Thank you, UCSF and Dr. Olson. P. S. I did my homework and found out that Dr. Olson is reputed to be the best ankle doctor by far in the Bay Area.

Dr. Olson is an extremely talented surgeon and has a super responsive, über-​competent staff. She is also a very nice person who is caring and forthright in her pre and post surgical appointments with patients. I needed a post-​surgery cortisone shot at 8 weeks and she arranged and did the procedure herself – it was a miracle when it kicked in! Dr. Olson has a wonderful relationship with her staff which makes it a professional, friendly environment. She was very patient with me as I asked many questions leading up to the surgery, and afterwards as well.
Foot surgery is very difficult to deal with when you are used to an active lifestyle as a vertical, upright biped. You really need to commit to a time when you can heal with «toes above your nose” – which means sitting down with your foot up high. I had to have bone spurs removed, and the joint of the great-​toe debreeded so the joint would function smoothly. After cheilectomy and physical therapy, my range of motion is significantly improved and the pain I experienced everyday for years is gone.
I found understanding, assistance, physical therapy and follow-​up to be relatively straightforward to access, especially given the mega sized UCSF administrative system. The MIssion Bay Campus is shiny, bright, new and quite high-​tech. My surgery is healing beautifully and I can see how after 10 weeks post-​op, I am certainly going to be much better off than I was before the surgery. This is a good outlook to have as I have the same problem with the other foot as well. I will certainly hire Dr. Olson and her team again for the next surgery.

With my 40 years of experience as a physical therapist, I can say without doubt that Dr. Olson is a skilled and compassionate surgeon. I know many physicians, and she was highly recommended by everyone I spoke to. The surgery on my foot went without a hitch, and she took the time pre and post surgery to answer all my many questions. Her support staff was equally excellent, so anyone considering foot surgery needs to look no further.

I was told to arrive at 9:15 am on Tuesday morning. I didn’t see Dr. Olsen until 11 am. She came in with nary an apology or explanation. She spent 10 minutes discussing what the «literature» says and didn’t really address me or my issues. Complete and total waste of time and money.

Excellent physician– world renowned. I was so happy to have found her! The staff at the practice are friendly, helpful and very knowledgeable. Dr. Olson did my surgery and she and the operating staff were exceptional! Would highly recommend Dr. Olson and this practice.

Completely unimpressed from her phone assistant to Dr. Olson. She was late (2 hours), and never apologized for the delay. I found that to be flat out rude. She was not engaged at all. Perhaps, if I was a surgical candidate she would’ve been more responsive. This was such a disappointing experience from start to finish.

I was referred to Dr. Olson after a previous procedure on my heel was a complete failure and the previous surgeon was a total Jerk. Dr. Olson took more time with me on the first appointment than all of the other surgeons combined.
It took a lot of fighting with my HMO, but I was able to have Dr Olson fix my heel. Calcaneal surgery is very painful with a long recovery and this was the second time that I had the procedure. The first time I had the surgery in 2006 was a very painful and long experience.
With Dr. Olson the surgery was fairly smooth and she made sure that my pain was properly managed. Instead of multiple trips to the ER writhing in pain, I was resting comfortably at home watching the World Series.
During post operative appointments Dr Olson and her staff have been very helpful and have worked with us to navigate our HMO out of network processes.
As for bed side manner, Dr. Olson is probably one of the nicest and most responsive surgeons you will find. Every patient in the waiting room says the same thing, Dr. Olson is just plain nice. I have seen other F&A Surgeons in the area and they have all been arrogant and rude.

Dr. Olson and the staff at UCSF Foot and Ankle Clinic are kind of the nicest folks I have every encountered. Having a broken ankle has not been fun, but making an appointment with Dr. Olson, checking in and getting extra x-​rays, talking with her and getting advice and reassurance, and recontacting her assistant for my physical therapy referral all went swimmingly.
I’m actually flabbergasted. Usually dealing with doctors is somewhat tedious and sometimes even upsetting. But they provide great care in a great facility at UCSF and Dr. Olson is warm and nice and super helpful.

So far one month post-​Achilles rupture surgery, I’ve been impressed with Dr. Kirstina Olson and the staff at the UCSF Orthopedic Insititute. It was my very first surgery ever. Everything from pre to post-​op was seamless. Most important, hospitality is excellent. An Achilles repair is a walk in the park for Dr. Olson, who’s after all, the Chief, Foot and Ankle Service, Assistant Professor of Clinical Orthopedic Surgery. Sport injuries can be scary and weekend warriors like me shouldn’t take anything for granted– so if you’re looking for a clinic, please consider UCSF Orthopedic.

I broke my ankle in a car accident while out of town in September of 2009. Technically speaking, I had a bimalleolar fracture: A broken Tibia (shinbone) and a broken Fibula (the other bone in the lower leg). OUCH!
On the day of the accident, the orthopedic surgeon put things back in the right place – but I needed to wait several weeks for swelling to go down before I could have the main surgery. The surgeon told me that the two best places for orthopedic surgery on the West Coast are University of Washington and UCSF, so I decided to have my surgery at UCSF.
UCSF matched me with Dr. Olson, their newly-​appointed Chief of their Foot and Ankle practice.
During my intial consultation, Dr. Olson was warm, friendly and took the time to put me at ease about the surgery she was going to perform — incisions on both sides of the ankle, installing a plate and what turned out to be a total of 10 screws.
The surgery went without a hitch, and after a stay in the hospital, I went home to recover. During my follow-​up appointments, Dr. Olson has taken the time to review my progress during the long recovery.
If you have the misfortune of breaking your foot or ankle, go to Dr. Olson.