Frequently Asked Questions

Dr. Badia first came to Miami and co-founded the Miami Hand Center in 1995 when he joined Dr. Jorge Orbay and was later joined by Drs. Roger Khouri, Eduardo Gonzalez, and then Steven Alex. This came directly after performing a traveling fellowship in Europe for complex hand trauma and a hand fellowship in Pittsburgh in 1994. In 2008, Dr. Badia founded the Badia Hand to Shoulder Center in order to satisfy the needs of his international patients as well as traumatic work injuries. The Doral location facilitates both these objectives in a centrally located facility near Miami International Airport.

Dr. Badia’s practice is limited to surgery of the hand and upper extremity, which includes the wrist, elbow and shoulder area. He also performs microsurgery and arthroscopic surgery but limited to the upper limb. However, Dr. Badia founded OrthoNOW which includes coverage for ALL orthopedic problems including sports medicine, spine, foot/ankle, hip and knee etc. OrthoNOW is an orthopedic urgent care center that requires NO appointment and allows acute injuries to be addressed by the appropriate subspecialist, right away!!  OrthoNOW Doral is upstairs from Badia Hand to Shoulder Center, and the Surgery Center at Doral, although other OrthoNOW franchise centers are open throughout Florida and Georgia, and others are opening around the country and world in the near future.

Many of the surgeries are performed with the assistance of Kate Samuels, PA-C, who is a physician assistant that works closely with Dr. Badia in all phases of treatment including initial consultations and post op visits. He occasionally collaborates with one of his orthopedic colleagues from OrthoNOW.

Severe pain resulting from tendon inflammation in carpal tunnel syndrome can be alleviated with anti-inflammatory modalities performed by hand therapists or medication, including the form of a corticosteroid injection in the wrist. However, true nerve compression that is confirmed by nerve conduction studies often needs surgical release in order to achieve a complete and long lasting cure.

This is one of the many myths of cortisone and patients should understand that only high dose intravenous or oral steroids (cortisone-like substances) would cause side effects such as weight gain, hair growth or blood sugar elevation. A small injection in a joint or around a tendon sheath will not cause any significant side effects unless applied inappropriately or excessively.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a compression of the median nerve in the carpal canal of the wrist. There can be many causes but in the majority of cases the cause is not clear. We do see this with high incidence in certain groups, which indicates there may be some hormonal involvement that leads to tendon inflammation/thickening and thus secondary compression of the nerve. There is no scientific evidence that typing or computer use causes this condition although it is noted that many repetitive activities may exacerbate this condition. It is also noted that symptoms worsen during sleep, while talking on the phone and even driving indicating that certain positions of the wrist can lead to median nerve compression symptoms. More about this condition can be learned in “Understanding Carpal Tunnel Syndrome“.

This should only be done with endoscopic carpal tunnel releases and traumatic injuries to both hands that require urgent treatment. However, in most elective cases, it is best to stage the carpal tunnel surgeries 4-6 weeks apart as that allows the patient to have one hand free without a dressing and with good strength as the operated hand recovers. Occasionally, bilateral surgery for CTS is performed when a patient travels a great distance to have this performed and a 2nd visit would be difficult.

Hand surgery can entail as simple a procedure as a carpal tunnel release or foreign body removal which would allow immediate near full use of the hand, or as complicated as a wrist laceration involving all tendons and nerves which can take up to a year for an adequate functional recovery.

Dr. Badia is now only on staff only at Doctors Hospital in Coral Gables, but was former chief of hand surgery at Baptist Hospital in Kendall, Miami. This is because virtually all surgeries can now be done on outpatient basis which has a lesser complication/infection rate and is much more cost effective.  Therefore, virtually all surgical procedures are performed at the Surgery Center at Doral Ambulatory Surgical Center, including other orthopedic procedures performed by Dr. Badia’s colleagues from OrthoNOW.   General/laparoscopic surgery, urology and ENT procedures are also done at the ambulatory surgical center. For more information visit https://www.drbadia.com/the-surgery-center-at-doral/

Yes, the Surgery Center at Doral is a fully  medicare approved facility with JCAHO certification and has contracts with various major insurance carriers that Dr. Badia and other on-staff surgeons who operate there. This includes many workers compensation carriers and international insurances.

Badia Hand to Shoulder center is generally open Monday to Friday from 8:00am a 5:00pm although at least one of the providers is available on off hours in order to handle emergencies. The ambulatory center is frequently active late at night due to the management of emergency hand and upper limb injuries.

However, extended hours are available upstairs at OrthoNOW Doral, the first orthopedic urgent care center in South Florida, which is now a national franchise, and soon to be international. OrthoNOW Doral is open Mondays and Wednesdays until 10:00pm and Saturday mornings, always without an appointment needed! http://www.orthonowcare.com

Hand and upper extremity surgery rarely require general anesthesia and Dr. Cabreja, the director of anesthesia and medical director of Surgery Center at Doral, is very experienced at local and regional block anesthesia. This means you will feel absolutely no pain or discomfort and intravenous sedation will also help you relax or even sleep if you desire.

Furthermore, major procedures are now often done with indwelling pain pump catheters so patients can go home or to their hotel room with nearly complete blockage of pain for several days after the outpatient surgery. Your surgical anesthesia will be discussed in detail with Dr. Cabreja or his colleagues in a pre-operative visit.  

An orthopedic surgeon specializes in medical and surgical treatment of the musculoskeletal system. This includes all bones, muscles, tendons and joints. A hand surgeon is a sub specialist in treatment of the hand and often the upper extremity as well. Dr. Badia is an orthopedic surgeon who also performed specialized training to limit his practice to the hand and upper limb. Occasionally, hand surgeons receive their fundamental training in plastic or even general surgery. Someone with this more specialized training should generally perform complex surgeries of the hand, wrist and elbow.