A board-certified orthopedic surgeon, fellowship trained in hand and upper extremity surgery. He has been in practice for more than 25 years, he sees every patient at this practice himself, and he operates at Legent Surgical Hospital in Plano.
Dr. Knight has appeared on CNN, The Doctors TV, Good Morning America, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Forbes, The Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, Oxygen network and more. See the dated record of those appearances
717 reviews across the two offices, read on 17 September 2026. Both listings are public and the figures move, so the date they were read is printed with them.
Read them on Google, or read them here. We have not edited a word.
Jenny Davis
I had a great experience with Dr. Knight. It was easy to get an appointment, and I didn't have long waits for X-rays or to see the doctor. Dr. Knight took the time to explain everything in detail in a way that was easy to understand.
Google review, Southlake office
Ann Gavin
Fantastic experience! Dr. Knight is so knowledgeable, personable, and timely! His office staff are also very kind. I was able to be seen quickly, treated the day of, and recovered well. Thank you hand ans wrist institute!
Google review, Dallas office
Sonya D. Crockett
Dr. Knight is the BEST! Everything went smooth from beginning to end. The staff delivered exceptional customer service, return calls prompty and always engage as if you are their number one customer. If felt great knowing I was under the care of a man of faith.
Google review, Dallas office
Pat Sigler
My girlfriend had pain in both of her wrists. Diagnosis was carpal tunnel syndrome and we had some test results from a different doctor. We went to see Dr. Knight about surgery. He suggested starting on one hand and that went well.
Google review, Dallas office
Reviews are reproduced exactly as they appear on Google, including the reviewers' own spelling, and were read on 2 September 2026. Where Google shortened a review, the quote stops at the last complete sentence it showed.
Board-certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, fellowship trained in hand and upper extremity surgery.
His NPI is 1063458321, on the federal NPPES register, with a hand surgery taxonomy. That is the record every directory listing of this practice should be checked against.
Most of the people Dr. Knight sees are not famous. They are people whose hand stopped working the way it used to: a numb thumb at the wheel, a finger that catches, a wrist that has not settled since a fall.
He has also treated high-profile celebrities, actors, musicians and professional sports athletes who rely on their hands and wrists every day. The examination is the same one.
Each one has its own page, written for patients and prepared for Dr. Knight's review.
Television segments and explainers he recorded himself. Each one opens on its own page. Transcripts are included where available.
Dr. Knight is an orthopedic hand and upper extremity surgeon who works almost entirely in minimally invasive techniques for the hand, wrist and upper extremity. Dr. Knight has treated high-profile celebrities, actors, musicians, and professional sports athletes who rely on their hands and wrists every day.
He obtained his medical degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in Shreveport, where he received the Louisiana Orthopedic Association Outstanding Student Award. Following his orthopedic training at LSU Medical Center, he completed a Hand and Upper Extremity Fellowship at the Joseph H. Boyes program in Los Angeles.
Dr. Knight gained national notoriety in the late 1990s with his persistence and dedication, which helped Congress pass the Aviation Medical Assistance Act on April 24, 1998, which led to defibrillators on all airplanes. Among his many achievements, he was one of the first doctors in the Southern U.S. to perform a successful toe-to-thumb transplantation. He was also one of the first in the U.S. to implant the Free Hand System, an internal computerized system restoring function to the quadriplegic patients’ hands.
With his recent move to Dallas, Texas, Dr. Knight is elated to be closer to his hometown and serving clients in his Southlake and Dallas, Texas offices.
In this recording Dr. Knight refers to the practice’s earlier home in Beverly Hills, California. He now sees patients in Southlake and Dallas.
This is YouTube’s automatic transcript, so some of the anatomy terms are the words the machine heard rather than the words he said. We are working through them.
hello I'm dr. John Knight today I want to talk to you about finding the right hand surgeon first I'd like to tell you a little bit about myself I'm a board-certified orthopedic surgeon with a specialty training in surgery of the hand and upper extremity the passion for
me is hand and wrist disorders we're have over 20 years of experience in this practice of this specialty I originally started practice in Louisiana where I'm from and then read about eight years relocated to the Los Angeles area where I created the Hand and Wrist Institute
in Beverly Hills which has become one of the premier hand programs in the United States now the peak of my career I feel a calling to return to my roots in the south close to my family and I'm now in the process of relocating my practice and program today to the Dallas Fort
Worth area it's important though what to my success and has been important to my success is to educate the public whether those patients or consumers can come see me at the end of the day doesn't matter it's educating the population on hand and upper extremity disorders and that's
why we created one of the top premier websites called the Hand and Wrist Institute dot com this website is interactive it goes into testimonials it goes in the various most of the conditions and treatment and upper extremity conditions and disorders one of the keys of the website however
is a very unique part called where does it hurt this is an interactive site where you can go in and put left or right consumptives depending on what arm is affected and you tech it this tabulates all the symptoms and you hit a submit button and it gives you a
potential list of diagnoses we're not here to treat you through the internet we're just here to give you more information so what does all this mean well at the end of the day if you have a problem you're going to need to see a hand surgeon so what are the what are
the important points or when you're looking for a hand surgeon well this kind of breaks it down number one is experience I have over 20 years of experience but the key is is looking at for example a young person a young doctor just out of his
training may have the latest technology under his belt but he may not have the judgment or wisdom of an older surgeon on the other hand you may have an older surgeon close to retirement that hasn't really advanced their technology and their light and be and they're not up on
the latest techniques secondly online reviews well we're obviously big on the internet so online reviews are very important to us but it's important when you're looking up a doctor to see do they have reviews and of these reviews are most of the reviews based on the
doctor interaction with the patient or is it just that a pay person had a problem with one of the staff members all this is important to look at but it's important for example if there's a surgical procedure what was the patient saying about that
outcome very important bedside manner bedside manner is very important in that it's held the doctor communicates and gains trust in that patient did they answer all of your questions at that office visitor that they just were they preoccupied with something else their
watch or their cell phone and not even listening to all of your concerns so bedside manner is important all these are in the totality are very important and finally office efficiency I have a very efficient office staff and that to me has been a big part of my success
that said there are many doctors that are great surgeons but they have very inefficient staff the staff has poor communication skills and nobody and patients leave the doctor based on that alone so in the totality of all of these four bullet points it's important to
look at all of these and there may be many others to look at also but I think these are the key points so I hope this has been helpful to you and good luck in finding a hand surgeon and if there's more information you want about my practice and what I do please visit the
Hand and Wrist Institute dot com
Dr. Knight has appeared on CNN, Good Morning America, Radio shows and been featured in publications across the country. To browse these Articles, Videos and Audio interviews, visit the Media page.
In this recording Dr. Knight refers to the practice’s earlier home in Beverly Hills, California. He now sees patients in Southlake and Dallas.
This is YouTube’s automatic transcript, so some of the anatomy terms are the words the machine heard rather than the words he said. We are working through them.
today we're reviewing all of the side effects you can avoid and if you spend a lot of time at the computer texting on your phone or even overdoing it at the gym you could be causing serious damage to your hands just ask Sophie I've been suffering with pain from carpal tunnel
for about ten years now I worked as a sheriff's dispatcher for seven years where I was constantly typing for 10 to 12 hours every day carpal tunnel is affecting my life in a lot of ways I make a living as a teacher but with the carpal tunnel I have to stop when I'm
grading papers I'm not able to do things that I normally would do and just a regular routine day when I blow-dry my hair my hands fall asleep when I hold a cell phone up to my ear my hands fall asleep I have shooting pains that go from the bottom of my palm up towards my
fingers I have to take 800 milligrams of ibuprofen every night to help deal with the pain I sleep with braces on my hands if I don't wear my braces at night I'll wake up in my hand is like a claw and I'll have to literally massage my muscles out so that I can extend my hand
to a regular position I haven't had surgery yet because I was afraid of the type of surgery where they were cutting your hand from the middle of your palm all the way down my symptoms have gotten progressively worse and I just got to the point where I feel like I need to do
something we'll give you tips on how to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome in just a minute but first let's take a look at how Sophie's surgery went the procedure that I'm performing a day the endoscopic carpal tunnel release is a much quicker recovery than the standard open
procedure because you have just a small one and a half centimeter score at the wrist crease so we mark the Pam eight bone just on the edge of the carpal tunnel and that indicates the line that I want to put the scope so now we're going to make a little incision and then
I'm gonna make a cut through the fascia that's gonna be kind of my guide into the carpal tunnel the carpal tunnel is a tunnel deep within the risk and it's within that tight tunnel that the tendons that flex the fingers so with repetitive movement you can get a
buildup of inflammation leading to nerve symptoms of numbness and tingling weakness in the hand the ligament is the widest structure and we're cutting through the ligament right there now we're going to pull it back towards the incision
cutting the rest of it and now you can see that there's complete division of the ligament now that I've satisfactorily released the pressure on the tendons and nerves I'm optimistic she'll have a full recovery and I'm here with orthopedic surgeon dr. John Knight
from the handed wrist Institute right here in Beverly Hills and his patients Sophie how are you feeling I feel great surgery was in September right it was in September almost immediately I had wonderful results I haven't had pain
I haven't had to sleep with my braces anymore I don't take the ibuprofen I'm able to do everyday tasks that I wasn't able to do before it's it's been amazing so tell us what makes your stitch list and discove ik carpal tunnel release surgery so special the key is with the
older procedure or traditional procedure there's a three-inch score five to ten sutures this procedure is through a one centimeter incision we put the endoscope in as opposed to cutting down through the skin and fat we insert this device we pull a trigger that insert flips up a
little scalpel and cut the ligament from the bottom up so we minimize all that scarring the patients can start moving it right away compared to three weeks in a brace okay big question for all those sufferers out there what can they do to make it better and to prevent it first
in the first place well the first preventative thing is ergonomic s' posture there's a lot particularly if we're going to talk about this keyboarding or computer use there are split keyboards organ amma Klee correct keyboards I think here today we you have
a mouse that's organ Amma Klee correct and that it you can keep it in by the side and do a lot with finger movement as opposed to having to move the mouse around the key with anything you do with your hands whether it's a computer use or texting or driving a car is relaxing
beyond that the key is if you're doing repetitive use of the hand or arm you want to take frequent breaks and there are a lot of things that you can you know if you're on the tight you know keyboard for an hour at a time you want to take a five or ten minute break get
up stand up there are different stretches you can do that involve holding the hands out like this for count of five and here then here then here each with a count of five back to there and then just shaking your hands out and then sitting back
down but there's also other causes metabolic abnormalities inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus and things like that so it's not just the repetitive use gotcha well guess what everyone in the audience is getting an ergonomic
This is YouTube’s automatic transcript, so some of the anatomy terms are the words the machine heard rather than the words he said. We are working through them.
there's nothing more frustrating than hand pain especially if you spend a lot of your day at the computer but there are solutions and here to share a new option that could give you relief is orthopedic surgeon Dr John Knight welcome Dr
Knight so we're actually talking today about something relatively new knuckle replacement surgery that's correct uh knuckle placement is not for everybody but for patients that have SE severe arthritis of the hands limiting function severe pain deformity this can be a
lifechanger so it's an option and we have a really cool animation here we're going to walk everyone through this to show you exactly what happens in this procedure so you're looking at a hand walk us through what we're seeing here the red the red line either centrally or
going cut Crossways is an incision through the skin once we go down to the Joint we we're looking at the metacarpal bone and the fenial bone the knuckle of the hand right there and so we have to remove the disease joint with a little
microl that allows us to put a new joint in its place so there we're removing one side of the joint with the diseased cartilage and the other side of the joint here now we're putting a little alignment guide in so we have good alignment of the joint when it's put in
so it's parallel then this is a uh temporary implant for sizing and then finally put we're putting in a pyrocarbon graphite with carbon prosthesis very strong prosthesis and then this shows the wound after they're sutured up so I hopefully
everyone understands that because literally if you had severe arthritis say in this joint you're literally getting rid of that joint the cartilage and replacing it with this artificial prosthesis we have an example here of an x-ray these three have the artificial
joint this is the old normal joint right that's correct and and this is the prosthesis right that's a again it's a very sturdy flexible solid prosthesis made of graphite and carbon this is an example right here so that would just that becomes your joint right this small
yeah very similar to a knee or hip replacement but obviously on a much smaller scale and so after this is done what what type of Mobility will you get back the mobility could be normal I mean obviously we don't promise that but it's usually a lot better than what they had
before uh but it could be 90 Dees of movement which is normal for these joints and we actually have a patient here Lori in our audience who had a knuckle replacement surgery performed right Lori yes I'm very happy with it um before I could hardly move it it was
very swollen and painful and now I've got almost full movement back now and so lur you're happy that you had this done pain levels have decreased significantly and it looks a whole lot better too than it how it looked before um and that's a great point because you
can get a lot of deformity in the knuckle joints so who would be a candidate for this procedure Dr Knight well patients with any form of arthritis osteoarthritis or degenerative arthritis is what most Americans are afflicted with that get arthritis aging arthritis
rheumatoid arthritis which is more of a crippling arthritis and then what we call traumatic arthritis just one joint from a fracture that didn't heal right can also lead to disabling pain well thank you so very much for sharing with us appreciate itks
In this recording Dr. Knight refers to the practice’s earlier home in Beverly Hills, California. He now sees patients in Southlake and Dallas.
These are Dr. Knight’s own words from the video. We corrected the anatomy and drug names the automatic captions got wrong and added the punctuation. Nothing he said was changed, added or taken out.
Host: Even as small as joints in our bodies can obviously cause us pain, as was the case for Leslie. Let's look at her story.
Leslie: About two years ago I woke up and my thumb was in extreme pain. When I actually bent it, it felt like it was breaking, and, but doctor told me I have trigger finger. This is as much as I can move it without pain right now. Day to day activities have become very challenging and difficult to do. Brushing my hair, using the curling iron, it affects everything that you do. I am so excited to get this problem resolved.
Host: Let's see how Leslie's surgery went.
Dr. Knight: Good morning. I know it's painful. Try to bend for me if you can, and just, let's look compared to the other thumb. Bend as far as you can, just kind of show the difference here. So that's how, all you can bend the left thumb. Okay. The condition is called a trigger digit, or in this case trigger thumb. I'll make a little cut through the skin here, and then I'll be looking at the band. I'll make a little snip of that band, and then we'll wake you up, and then three stitches later you're done.
Leslie: How long was the actual procedure take?
Dr. Knight: It's going to take about five to ten minutes total time. I think you'll see marked improvement, your mobilities, and while you're on the operating room table.
Leslie: And looking forward to bending my thumb again.
Dr. Knight: Now we're just gonna make a little incision for the crease of the thumb, and we're just going through the tissue to, down to the tendon. Here's the band we're gonna snip, and I'm just going to put my scissors right underneath this band.
We're just gonna wash the wound out with some antibiotic solution and put a few stitches.
This is what she couldn't do before surgery. Bend your thumb all the way for me, sweetie. There you go. See that? Right, she could see the, got the tendon completely released. Now she has full mobility. I think Leslie will be happy. Look at her right now, she's moving it completely.
Leslie: Hey, you know, good. I mean, my thumb, I can move it. I'm so excited, look at that.
Host: I'm here with hand surgeon Dr. John Knight from the Hand and Wrist Institute in Beverly Hills, California, along with this patient Leslie. So before we talk a little more about what this trigger finger is, can you show us?
Leslie: Oh, I can bend my thumb. I'm getting all the strength back. It's, I wish, I don't see it catching. Nope. No pain, no pain.
Host: Wow. Okay.
Leslie: And I wish I would have done it a year and a half ago.
Host: Well, I'm glad that you came to get resolution. A lot of people suffer from a trigger finger, right?
Dr. Knight: Right, it's the most common procedure we take care of as a hand surgeon, more common than carpal tunnel.
Host: So let's show people what trigger finger is. I know we have an illustration here.
Dr. Knight: Sure. On the illustration you'll see bands or tendons to go to the tip of the finger, and it's in the palm area that, that you get a little swelling or inflammation around the tendon. Eventually over time you actually may form a nodule, and that nodule is like a rope going through a pulley. It starts to snag. And we have a demo here. I don't know if this is really going to do justice, because it's obviously difficult sometimes with demos, but again, this is the tendon. It's going, it's going through that sheath, and this is one without.
Host: Right, no friction, smooth gliding.
Dr. Knight: And that's, and all the tendons that bend the fingers down go through a system of pulleys, and then there's what the, there's usually the first pulley that's in the palm or at the base of the thumb, and it forms a little knot on it, like this knot on this rope here, or this ball, and it impedes the thumb movement. So when we do the surgery, just snip it, and that relieves the pressure. So by getting rid of that, and it obviously moves freely through the pulley system, as evidenced by your quick recovery.
Host: Are there things that people can do in their daily life to hopefully prevent this from occurring in the first place?
Dr. Knight: Absolutely. Surgery is a last resort. You know, what the first thing is, looking at ergonomics, less repetitive use, too much texting, too much keyboard. Just said as much as you can, you know, over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medicine and just rest. There's a, no, really the hallmark of conservative treatment is a cortisone shot right where the tendon is. If it's mild case, then it can respond favorably of that. In her case though, when you can't bend it at all, that's a pretty severe case, it's not likely to respond to conservative treatment. So surgery is a last resort, but it is an option for people who just have no resolution with conservative treatments.
Host: So happy that you're feeling better.
This is YouTube’s automatic transcript, so some of the anatomy terms are the words the machine heard rather than the words he said. We are working through them.
until these TLC this morning when you're up in the air and a medical emergency strikes there's really no place to go in no way for outside help obviously to get to you and that is why several US carriers have finally finally bowed to pressure to upgrade the medical
equipment carried aboard all of their flights American Airlines says it will soon begin re equipping its domestic fleet and other carriers plan to do the same by year's end our dr. Nancy Snyderman is joining us now to show us what the change could mean to travelers
welcome hi Charlie this is one place where the international carriers have been way ahead of our American carriers because most international flights do carry small portable defibrillators have so for years but United States regulations on what gear and aircraft
must have onboard well they haven't been updated in more than a decade and unfortunately that result as you're going to see in this report has sometimes been tragic last December on a flight to Miami 25 year old LaShawn Royals heart stopped beating Doctor John
Knight a passenger on the plane tried to revive her but said he was unsuccessful partly because the plane was not carrying the proper medical equipment a defibrillator to restart her heart and an endotracheal tube to clear her breathing passage I felt helpless I felt
that I was watching someone drown with the ability to possibly make a difference and didn't have the the life raft to get out there to provide that life raft dr. Knight has made his mission to convince congress to demand airlines be better prepared for medical
emergencies passengers are far from safe on board airlines right now it wasn't until nineteen ninety-six that the airlines began keeping count of medical incidents in the air that year out of six hundred million passengers there were about 10,000 such events ranging
from mainly headaches and nausea to seizures and heart attacks most medical emergencies can be dealt with once you're back on the ground but if your heart and lungs stop while you're up in the air you only have about 10 minutes to be revived and that can be
a problem since the average airliner takes 20 minutes to get back to the airport if you don't get immediate help you're likely out of luck plug in pads connector next to flashing light the FAA hasn't upgraded its requirements for onboard medical equipment in 12 years
some carriers like Delta are voluntarily installing defibrillators and training their flight attendants to use them shock advised charging it is foolproof it interprets the heart rhythm it it displays an electrocardiogram on the monitor it makes all the decisions for
us stay clear of patients I'm clear I'm clear delivery talk now shock delivered without this device I I would have never made it my heart stopped Robert Giggy was clinically dead his heart stopped suddenly on board an American Airlines plane fortunately there was a paramedic
on the flight and the plane was carrying a defibrillator in less than two seconds it had started the heart it had sent the voltage by the third second the heart was started his jaw had locked they could not get air into him the paramedic and the American Airlines crew had the
training it was not only to use the equipment but to unlock the jaw and get oxygen into him Robert Giggy was lucky the defibrillator and the paramedic saved his life but medical personnel are often reluctant to step forward on an airplane for fear of being sued and dr.
Knight is pushing to change that too there's not a federal good samaritan wall that essentially would apply to airplanes and until that that's there a lot of physicians particularly with all the publicity now are not going to get out of their seat to help it's been
nearly five months since dr. John Knights frustrating attempt to save the life of LaShawn royal he continues his fight to get Congress and the FAA to force all airlines to free inflight medical aid because how many 25 year old loves should be lost or
any lives for that matter in March Congress did pass a bill that will create a federal Good Samaritan Law and direct the FAA to consider requiring all airlines to carry defibrillators and updated medical kits now I have one of these kits here and I should tell you
that just the other day I was asked is there a doctor on board and I opened up the kid and it was laughable there was nothing in it this is what doesn't it smell this is one of the new and improved ones it has all kinds of stuff in it including in case you're perhaps a
physician and you haven't kept up with everything a little how-to guide on some of the more recent things but all kinds of very important medications including things for low blood sugar valium all kinds of stuff restarting heart tubes and even more important these are the
tubes laryngoscopes for being able to put a tube down someone's breathing passage and breathe for them and IV bags finally things that can make a difference and literally on the air save somebody's life and this is the defibrillator the defibrillator and
flight attendants will be trained to do this so it's going to work and I must tell you it's about time and it's taken so long just cuz the airlines are weird but we are worried about being sued yeah all right goodness Nancy thanks very much
you
Download Dr. Knight’s CV- Click Here
One surgeon, and you see him at whichever office suits you. Surgery is done at Legent Surgical Hospital in Plano.
Open weekdays. You can book online any time, 7 days a week.
X-rays on site
Open Tuesdays. You can book online any time, 7 days a week.
X-rays on site
Open until Tuesday, September 22nd, its last day here. Our new Plano office opens Tuesday, September 29th.
Opening Tuesday, September 29th, then Tuesdays. Call us for the hours.
X-rays on site
This office takes over from our Dallas office on Tuesday, September 29th. It is on the same street as Legent Surgical Hospital in Plano, where Dr. Knight already operates.
You do not need a diagnosis to book. Bring us the hand, and getting the diagnosis right is the part we do.
Pick a time on Dr. Knight's schedule and confirm it yourself, any time of day, 7 days a week. This is how we prefer patients to book.
Book online with Dr. KnightNot every appointment we have is shown online.
Tell us what hurts and we will tell you the first opening at either office.
(817) 382-6789Answered in office hours and at the weekend. Out of hours, leave a message and our team picks it up the next working day.
If the times shown online do not suit you, or you have a question before booking, call our team. Not every appointment is shown online.
Leave your name, your number and the reason for your visit and our team will call you back.
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