Daniel A. Worrel, M.D.

Dr. Worrel provides comprehensive shoulder, elbow, and sports medicine care to patients in both Dallas, TX, and Frisco, TX.

Sports Medicine & Team Physician Experience

Dr. Worrel has more than twenty years of experience as a team physician, providing sports medicine coverage for Southern Methodist University athletics. He also served as team physician for the Dallas Mavericks for more than a decade, during which he was named the National Basketball Athletic Trainers Association's 2023 NBA Team Physician of the Year. He considers it a blessing and a privilege to have treated elite athletes as well as his friends and neighbors. 

Education & Training

Dr. Worrel brings a distinctive engineering perspective to orthopaedic surgery. He earned his undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering from Southern Methodist University, where he also graduated with honors in liberal arts, before completing his medical degree at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He completed his internship and orthopaedic surgery residency at the University of Florida, where he served as chief resident, followed by a fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, training under Dr. Bernard Morrey and Dr. Shawn O'Driscoll. He completed additional fellowship training under Dr. Neal ElAttrache at the Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles, California, where he had the opportunity to work alongside Dr. Frank Jobe, who pioneered ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction of the elbow—the procedure now widely known as "Tommy John surgery." Dr. Worrel also credits Dr. Keith Meister, the Texas Rangers' longtime team physician and a leading authority on elbow ligament reconstruction, as a close friend and mentor throughout his career. He is board-certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, with subspecialty certification in Orthopaedic Sports Medicine.

Surgical Innovation & Patents

Dr. Worrel's engineering background has directly shaped his work as a surgical innovator. Dr. Worrel is the founder and owner of Arthroscopic Innovations, through which he has designed and developed multiple surgical devices and holds multiple patents on medical devices, including surgical access devices used in orthopaedic procedures. He has also developed several proprietary systems for tendon repair and ligament reconstruction, including systems used in distal biceps tendon repair, biceps tenodesis of the shoulder, pectoralis major tendon repair, ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction of the elbow, ACL reconstruction, and medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) reconstruction.

Notably, Dr. Worrel has performed close to 1,000 distal biceps tendon repairs—among the highest case volumes of any surgeon performing this procedure—and the systems he developed have helped make the operation significantly more predictable and repeatable, with high rates of success.

In rotator cuff surgery, Dr. Worrel has developed unique repair techniques that are biomechanically superior, strengthening the durability of the repair. In shoulder instability surgery, he has trained multiple surgeons on his techniques, and his advanced repair methods are used to help train surgeons around the country. Underlying all of his work is a consistent focus: maximizing the biomechanics and structural integrity of every repair to give patients the best possible outcome.

Dr. Worrel also has unique experience with relatively uncommon injuries, including triceps tendon tears, elbow arthroscopy, and AC joint reconstruction.

A lifelong athlete, Dr. Worrel played sports extensively growing up and has experienced his own share of athletic injuries—giving him firsthand insight into what his patients face, physically and mentally, as they work to return to the activities they love. That perspective, paired with his technical and engineering background, shapes his approach to every patient: precise, innovative, and focused on restoring full function.

Available in Dallas & Frisco, TX

Dr. Worrel treats patients across every level of activity, from weekend athletes to collegiate and professional competitors. He is affiliated with North Central Surgical Center in Dallas, Texas, and the Baylor Scott & White Sports Surgery Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. 

Dr. Worrel serves as chairman of the governing board of the Baylor Scott & White Sports Surgery Center at The Star and sits on the Executive Advisory Board of Dedman College at Southern Methodist University.

Outside the clinic and operating room, Dr. Worrel is married with two daughters. He enjoys the outdoors, golf, hunting, and spending time with his two Labrador retrievers.