The Columbia Orthopaedic Group was organized in December of 1965 by its three founding partners, Glenn L. McElroy, M.D., John W. Payne, M.D., and Garth S. Russell, M.D. The very first clinic was located on Broadway in a building owned by Stephens College. Along with treating patients in the clinic, the physicians would also provide care for patients in surrounding mid-Missouri communities of Boonville, Fayette, Marshall, and Mexico by conducting satellite clinics in the hospitals located in these communities.

In 1969, due to the growth and demand for orthopaedic care, Columbia Orthopaedic Group recruited Lee A. Sosebee, M.D. to join their team. As the group continued to grow, it also added John P. Hickcox, M.D. in 1972 and Lynn O. Litton, M.D. in 1975. At this time, Columbia Orthopaedic Group was also providing care for all of the student-athletes at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Central Methodist University, Columbia College, as well as high schools in and around central Missouri.

In 1972-1973, physicians from Columbia Orthopaedic Group joined with a number of other physicians from around Columbia to build Columbia Regional Hospital. This was also accompanied by building a new building for Columbia Orthopaedic Group, which was located right next to Columbia Regional Hospital on Keene Street. Also at this time, the orthopaedic clinics held around mid-Missouri were expanded to include the cities of Brookfield, Moberly, and Rolla. 

By 1976, Columbia Orthopaedic Group was large enough to where it was able to enable its physicians to sub-specialize into areas of focus and today provides care in the areas of sports medicine, spine, joint replacement, hand/upper extremity, foot/ankle, and trauma/fracture care. By the beginning of 1988, Columbia Orthopaedic Group's sports medicine practice was not only providing care for the student-athletes at the University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Missouri-Rolla, University of Kansas, and other colleges around mid-Missouri, it was also caring for the Harlem Globetrotters as well as performing surgery on many national and international athletes who played on major sports teams. Orthopaedic care has also been provided to Olympic caliber athletes and Columbia Orthopaedic Group physician, Dr. Mark Adams, was a member of the United States Olympic Team as a team physician during the 1996 Atlanta Games and 2000 Sydney Games and also served as team physician for the U.S. Soccer Women's National Team from 1995-2002, including the 1999 World Cup. In 1998-1999, member physicians from Columbia Orthopaedic Group were instrumental in the creation and building of the Institute for Outpatient Surgery, which is located on Keene Street next to Columbia Orthopaedic Group and was the largest outpatient surgery facility in mid-Missouri at that time. The Institute for Outpatient Surgery is a freestanding outpatient surgical center and allows for convenient outpatient care of patients where an entire stay may be as little as two to three hours.

With its continued growth and development, Columbia Orthopaedic Group is excited to announce that in the spring of 2008, we moved into a brand new state-of-the-art building at the Southwest corner of Broadway and Keene Street. This custom-designed facility will consist of physician offices, exam rooms, an imaging center, and an in house ambulatory surgery center all conveniently under one roof.

At the Columbia Orthopaedic Group, we currently have 26 specialized physicians and surgeons who are committed to excellence in the diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and prevention of orthopaedic injury and disease. For more than 40 years, we have provided patients with the comfort and care needed to return to active lifestyles. Our responsibility to you is providing you excellence in surgical and non-surgical care and we look forward to serving you for years to come.