Excel Orthopedics - Dr. Paul Shuler

“We live in the community, so the people who walk through the door are more than numbers or patients to us… they’re friends and neighbors.”

Dr. Shuler loves living in small-town Wisconsin, and takes pride in caring for the people who live here. That sense of community stems from his Wisconsin upbringing, a time when he also fell in love with orthopedics. “I was cared for by an orthopedic surgeon as a child, so I saw how that could make a difference in somebody’s life. It’s still really amazing some of the things we’re able to do for people. For instance, people who can barely walk or are in constant pain…we can relieve that. That’s what I find most rewarding.”

Though he ultimately returned to his childhood love of orthopedics, Dr. Shuler once wandered a completely different career path. The high school valedictorian was accepted to Michigan Technological University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. in electrical engineering. GM awarded him a scholarship, and he worked there both during college and after graduation doing product and system development and applications. In 1992, he returned to school, this time to obtain a Medical Doctorate from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. He stayed there for a general surgery internship and residency in orthopedic surgery. He was certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery, and is now a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and a member of the Arthroscopy Association of North America, where he completed a mini-fellowship in shoulder arthroscopy.

Dr. Shuler practiced in communities like Ripon, Berlin, and Stevens Point before finding his home at Excel Orthopedics in 2003. “We have a more personalized feel than people are going to get in Madison or Milwaukee,” he says of Excel. “We’re very invested in the outcome of care for each individual patient.”

Dr. Shuler says South-Central Wisconsin is the perfect place to raise his family of six, with a great sense of community and small town values. And it doesn’t hurt that all of his favorite pasttimes – water skiing, swimming, biking and camping – can be done here. When he’s not with his family or enjoying nature, Dr. Shuler can be found “tinkering”. “I guess it would have some bearing as to why I’m in orthopedics, but I tend to fix and repair just about anything that needs it.”