Dr. Joel Frazier, MD

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Get to know Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Joel Frazier, who serves patients throughout the State of California.

A dual board-certified and fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Frazier has over three decades of experience in hand, wrist, and elbow surgery. In California, he is an attending surgeon at Doctors Medical Center, Doctors Hospital of Manteca, and San Joaquin General Hospital. 

His area of expertise includes the entire spectrum of care of orthopedic management from the adolescent to the adult up through the geriatric population with particular emphasis on sports-related injuries. His focus is on preservation, repair, and when indicated, the reconstruction of joints, bones, cartilage, ligaments, and tendons to restore function and motion.

Seeing people and athletes of all ages, Dr. Frazier treats all complexity of problems from carpal tunnel syndrome, trigger fingers, Quervain‘s tendonitis, ganglions, cysts, and small tumors to complex fractures /dislocations of fingers, hand, wrist, or elbow, tendon injuries, ligament reconstructions, joint replacements, tendon transfers, and nerve transfers for severe nerve injuries. He provides care to get patients’ back to their lives and activities using non-surgical (medication and therapy) or surgery, as needed. 

Also, he helped develop and bring to market the largest provider of Xiaflex in the Central Valley for the non-surgical treatment of Dupuytren’s contracture.

Educated in the United States, Dr. Frazier graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Binghamton University in 1981. He then received his medical degree from the  University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in 1985.

Furthering his education, he performed his residency in general surgery and his research fellowship in microsurgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in 1987 and 1988, respectively. He then completed his residency in orthopedic surgery at Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center in 1992, and a hand and microsurgery fellowship at New York University Medical Center in 1993.

Upon completion of his training, Dr. Frazier served as an Associate Professor and Director of the Hand Service at The Ohio State University, Department of Orthopedics where he treated Big Ten, national champion, Olympic champion, and professional athletes. 

As an independent contractor in the greater Los Angeles area, he cared for stage, theater, movie and TV stars, including the Cirque du Soleil traveling troop. On leaving there, in addition to treating patients and doing research, he served as Medical Director of One Core Orthopedic Hospital and Tower Day Surgery Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

With a passion for his profession, the doctor is board-certified in orthopedic surgery and surgery of the hand by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery (ABOS). The ABOS is an organization with the goal of establishing educational and professional standards for orthopedic residents and surgeons as well as evaluating the qualifications and competence of orthopedic surgeons.

Continuously advancing his efforts, Dr. Frazier is an active member of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, the American Medical Association, and the California Orthopedic Association.

His areas of research include Dupuytren’s disease, wrist instability, chronic arthritis and pain management, rheumatoid arthritis, and distal radius fracture care.

Orthopedic surgery is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and non-surgical means to treat musculoskeletal trauma, spine diseases, sports injuries, degenerative diseases, infections, tumors, and congenital disorders.

Named one of America’s top orthopedic surgeons, Dr. Frazier has been the recipient of the Patients’ Choice Award (2011, 2010, 2009, 2008) and Compassionate Doctor Recognition (2011, 2010, 2009).

On a more personal note, Dr. Frazier enjoys his boxer dogs and previously national winning German Shepherd show dogs. He has extensive experiences through the family-owned business of showing, breeding, training, and judging international champion Arabian, part-Arabian, National Show Horse, and American Saddlebred horses. 

Outside of the office, he enjoys traveling (favorite place to vacation is in Maui, Hawaii), hiking, and snow skiing. He also performs charitable work by building homes for the underserved in Tijuana, Mexico. 

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