Board Certified, Fellowship Trained

Dr. Johnny T. Nelson is a board-certified, dual fellowship-trained orthopaedic doctor specializing in all arm conditions from shoulder to the hand. He is the first and only orthopaedic surgeon in the Piedmont to offer ultra-minimally invasive carpal tunnel release with ultrasound guidance (CTR-US). He also offers advanced "point-of-care" ultrasound examinations to patients with shoulder and arm problems, helping them to avoid many unnecessary MRIs, CTs, and other expensive studies. His areas of focus include shoulder arthritis and replacements, rotator cuff and labral repair, and carpal tunnel syndrome. 

Dr. Nelson is published in multiple highly-respected journals including HAND, Journal of Hand Surgery, Muscle and Nerve, and Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. He frequently lectures on the topic of ultrasound and ultrasound-guided procedures, and teaches ultrasound-guided surgery techniques to other orthopaedic surgeons.

Dr. Nelson is a Raleigh native and a second-generation orthopaedic surgeon. He graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Dallas, where he played starting flanker for the university's rugby football club. He earned his medical degree at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he graduated at the top of his class and was inducted into the AOA medical honors society. Between medical school and residency, Dr. Nelson devoted a year to research at the Laboratory for Regenerative Technologies in Orthopaedic Surgery at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, which resulted in numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals. After completing orthopaedic surgery residency at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, Dr. Nelson was selected for a fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh. There he was trained by the nation's top experts in shoulder, elbow, and hand surgery. He then completed his training at the internationally-renowned Shoulder Unit of the Centre Orthopdique Santy in Lyon, France, with a focus on advanced shoulder arthroscopy and rotator cuff repair, open and arthroscopic treatment of shoulder instability, and shoulder replacement.

He is a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, board-certified by the American Board of Orthopaedics Surgery (ABOS), and holds a Certificate of Added Qualification in Surgery of the Hand (CAQH). He is also a candidate member of American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES).