How do I choose a hand surgeon?

In short

Choose a hand surgeon on things you can verify yourself: fellowship training in hand and upper extremity surgery, whether the practice treats only the hand, wrist and elbow, hospital privileges at a named hospital, and whether the treatment options for your diagnosis are explained.

Written for patients by The Hand and Wrist Institute. Prepared for review by John T. Knight, MD. Last updated September 5, 2026How we write and review

Call (817) 382-6789 to have this looked at, or book online with Dr. Knight.

What fellowship training in hand surgery is

Start with the one credential that has a fixed meaning. After medical school a surgeon completes a residency, and then some take a further year of subspecialty training in one region of the body, or what we call a fellowship. A hand and upper extremity fellowship is a year spent on the hand, the wrist and the elbow specifically, on nerves and tendons and small bones and the joints between them.

The reason this matters to you is not prestige, it is repetition. Every phrase on a website can be written by anybody. A fellowship either happened or it did not, and the office can tell you in one sentence which it is.

A credential you can check, or a phrase anyone can write

These are the two things patients mix up when they compare websites. "Fellowship trained in hand and upper extremity surgery" describes completed training. "Specializes in hands" describes an intention, and any practice can print it. The first is checkable and the second is not, so read them differently.

Here is the test, and it takes one phone call. Ask the office three questions. Did the surgeon complete a fellowship in hand and upper extremity surgery? What else does this practice treat besides the hand, wrist and elbow? Where does the surgeon operate, by hospital name? Three plain answers, all of them things you can look up afterwards.

What to check, in order

1. Fellowship training. Confirm the surgeon completed a fellowship in hand and upper extremity surgery, not just a general surgical residency.
2. Scope of the practice. Find out whether it treats the hand, wrist and elbow only, or whether hands are one line among knees, hips and shoulders. Neither is wrong, but you should know which you are booking.
3. Where the surgery happens. Ask for the hospital by name, then look it up. A named facility is verifiable, "a local surgery center" is not.
4. How treatment options are explained. At the visit, ask what the options are short of surgery and what would have to change for surgery to be the right call. Ask how each option applies to your diagnosis.
5. What the diagnosis is based on. Ask whether an x-ray is taken and reviewed with you in the visit, and what happens if the exam does not make the diagnosis clear.
6. How you are spoken to. Whether your questions got answered, and whether the surgeon was listening rather than halfway out the door, is not a soft detail. Dr. Knight names it himself below.

For Dr. Knight those answers are plain facts you can check rather than claims. He is fellowship trained in hand and upper extremity surgery. The Hand and Wrist Institute treats the hand, wrist and elbow only, and it is one surgeon, not a group. Surgery is performed at Legent Hospital in Plano, Texas. X-rays are taken in both the Southlake and Dallas offices and reviewed with him minutes later, in the same visit. Treatment options depend on the condition. Discuss the options for your diagnosis with Dr. Knight.¹²

When to call us

• Numbness or tingling in the fingers that wakes you at night and is not settling
• A finger that locks or catches, or a thumb that has become painful to pinch with
• A hand, wrist or elbow injury with swelling, bruising, or a change in the shape of the limb
• Weakness or wasting in the hand, or dropping things you used to hold easily
• A hand or wrist problem already treated that has come back or never resolved