Florida Orthopaedic Associates
by Laura Breen Galante
Celebrating 55 years of independent practice, Florida Orthopaedic Associates has five offices from Orange City to Lake Mary, with 13 providers who offer full-service orthopaedic care and sports medicine for all types of injuries and conditions.
Dr. Morad Chughtai, who specializes in hand surgery, joined the practice in August 2023. He completed his orthopaedic surgery residency at Cleveland Clinic and did a hand, upper extremity, and microvascular surgery fellowship at the University of Florida before relocating to Lake Mary.
Dr. Chughtai pursued years of research spanning various specialties: adult and congenital hand surgery, shoulder arthroscopy and replacement, robotic and navigated technologies in orthopaedic surgery, joint replacement, smartphone integrated surgical technologies, and pharmaceuticals, among others.
Most people have no issues with their hands, says Dr. Chughtai, but when something goes wrong, it’s extremely debilitating. Dr. Chughtai is eloquent in describing the hand, which he calls a beautiful thing.
“The hand really is a bit divine in its function,” he says. “It’s the eyes for the blind, the ears for the deaf, it’s how you navigate your environment, and it’s how you take your thoughts and expressions and physically manifest them.”
Hands are such a functional aspect of someone’s everyday life.
Dr. Chughtai excels in bone (orthopaedic) surgery, soft tissue reconstruction, vascular repair, and nerve repair, seeing patients from carpal tunnel to major trauma. His expertise is in the upper extremities, from clavicle to fingertip.
“I cover the full breadth and depth of the upper extremities,” he explains.
He enjoys educating patients about the many options that exist for treatment.
Patients seeking expert orthopaedic care don’t have to go all the way to Orlando. The Lake Mary office, on the Heathrow side of Lake Mary Boulevard, is easily accessed from I-4 and void of traffic. Providers at Florida Orthopaedic Associates live in the community, call Lake Mary home, and care for patients as neighbors.