[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2025\/09\/joe-maddox-orthopaedic-surgery\/#Article","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2025\/09\/joe-maddox-orthopaedic-surgery\/","headline":"Joe and Maddox’s Story: Father and Son See Great Results from the Same UPMC Orthopaedic Surgeon","name":"Joe and Maddox’s Story: Father and Son See Great Results from the Same UPMC Orthopaedic Surgeon","description":"

Father and son Joe and Maddox Yost both had strong recoveries after undergoing orthopaedic surgery at UPMC with Jonathan Hughes, MD.<\/p>","datePublished":"2025-09-16","dateModified":"2025-10-30","author":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.upmc.com\/services\/sports-medicine-regions","name":"Sports Medicine","url":"https:\/\/www.upmc.com\/services\/sports-medicine-regions","sameAs":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/sports-medicine\/","parentOrganization":"UPMC"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"UPMC HealthBeat","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/UPMC-HealthBeat-Logo.png","url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/UPMC-HealthBeat-Logo.png","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250519_LeboVsSenecaValleyRound1_AF-28-e1757960087979.jpg","url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250519_LeboVsSenecaValleyRound1_AF-28-e1757960087979.jpg","height":866,"width":2000},"url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2025\/09\/joe-maddox-orthopaedic-surgery\/","about":["Health Topics A-Z","Orthopaedics"],"wordCount":1311,"articleBody":"Maddox Yost watched college baseball games on television growing up and pictured himself playing there one day.\u201cI used to call the bats they used \u2018noise bats,\u2019\u2019\u2019 says Maddox, 18, a 2025 graduate of Mt. Lebanon High School in southwestern Pennsylvania. \u201cI always dreamt of playing and hoping to be up there.\u201dA left knee injury during his sophomore year of high school had threatened Maddox’s baseball future. However, a timely evaluation and surgery by Jonathan Hughes, MD, UPMC orthopaedic sports medicine surgeon, ensured Maddox didn’t miss any valuable baseball time.The quick treatment and surgery enabled Maddox to earn a baseball scholarship to Millersville University.Impressed by Dr. Hughes’ work, Joe Yost \u2014 Maddox’s dad \u2014 turned to the surgeon himself when he needed reconstructive shoulder surgery in 2025.\u201cFor obvious reasons, he\u2019s good at what he does,\u201d says Joe, 46, of Mt. Lebanon. \u201cWe saw Maddox\u2019s surgery, his recovery, the game plan afterwards, the therapy.\u201dMaddox’s Story: A Noncontact Knee InjuryMaddox loves baseball and excels as a catcher. But he also played football at Mt. Lebanon because the sport helped with his strength and conditioning for baseball.During a football workout in August 2022, he felt \u201ca big pop\u201d in his left knee when he changed directions. Within minutes, he was having trouble bending and straightening his knee.\u201cAt first, I thought of the worst possibilities \u2014 ACL or something,\u201d Maddox says. \u201cLuckily, it wasn’t. But when I couldn’t bend my knee, it was pretty scary. A lot of people definitely take it for granted, and when something like that happens, it’s like, \u2018Oh man, this is not right.\u2019\u201dMaddox was evaluated by Tony Turchetta, LAT, a UPMC athletic trainer who works with Mt. Lebanon student-athletes. Tony set up an appointment with Dr. Hughes two days later.A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan showed that a piece of cartilage had broken off and was floating in his left knee joint. Dr. Hughes told Maddox and his family that Maddox would need surgery and scheduled it for that same week.\u201cWhen he told me that we’ve got to do surgery, I felt sick, almost,\u201d Maddox says. \u201cBecause I’ve never had surgery like that before, especially on my knee. It was scary.\u201d\u201cAt the time, we were a little bit freaking out,\u201d Joe says. \u201cObviously, he was a very good catcher. He wanted to catch. He wanted to go to college. We were thankful for Dr. Hughes.\u201dInstead of removing the loose piece of cartilage, Dr. Hughes put it back and secured it with a screw. This alignment would help stabilize Maddox’s knee in the long term.\u201cWe really appreciated (that),\u201d Joe says. \u201cThis is what we’re looking for with something like this \u2014 someone who knows what they’re doing. It was more of a rehab, but it was also, in his opinion, going to be more of a success rate on him getting back to being able to catch.\u201dMaddox was glad to have the surgery done so quickly, allowing him to get a jump-start on his rehabilitation. The sophomore spring baseball season and the summer travel season afterward are important for college baseball recruiting.\u201cIt literally couldn’t have happened at a better time because of baseball,\u201d he says. Maddox was on crutches for a week\u00a0after surgery but had to keep his knee in a locked brace for a few months. He began physical therapy in September, working to regain the strength and flexibility in his leg.\u201cAll of my muscles were kind of gone,\u201d he says. \u201cMy leg was just nothing. It was terrifying to me. I’m not skinny, but I’m not too big. I still have a little bit of muscle there, and it was just completely gone, and just skin.\u201cIt was scary, but we kept going and taking it day by day and doing the stuff at home and at PT to where I was just building the strength back up. It all just helped in the end, just staying on top of it and paying attention to what they said. Especially Dr. Hughes.\u201dDr. Hughes cleared Maddox to resume hitting and other baseball activities in February 2023.\u201cThe confidence skyrocketed then because I was able to get back to doing everything,\u201d Maddox says.By the time Mt. Lebanon’s season began, Maddox was ready. He earned a spot on the varsity roster and helped the Blue Devils win the WPIAL Class 6A title and finish second in the state. He then had a strong summer travel season and participated in fall camps.\u201c(Making varsity) was one of the better feelings I’ve had,\u201d Maddox says. \u201cWhen (the injury) happened, I was like, \u2018I don’t know if I’ll be able to catch again.\u2019 Sure enough, I kept working at it and tried to build the strength back up. It paid off, for sure.\u201dJoe’s Story: A Traumatic Shoulder InjuryAfter Maddox’s full recovery, Joe injured his left shoulder in a car accident in January 2024. Despite significant pain, Joe says he put off getting an MRI until November.The MRI showed he had a torn labrum, a torn rotator cuff, and bicep damage. He\u2019d need surgery.The choice of surgeon was obvious, Joe says.\u201cWhen I found out that Dr. Hughes did shoulders and knees, it was a no-brainer,\u201d he says.\u201cObviously, he\u2019s skilled at what he does. We appreciated his personal approach, his demeanor. We never felt rushed. We were always the ones, in my opinion, who felt like we ended the conversation. He\u2019s just a likable guy who is good at what he does.\u201dJoe waited until May 2025 to contact Dr. Hughes. By then, the shoulder was causing significant pain even with minor activities. He had trouble sleeping and stopped working out.\u201cI\u2019m 46,\u201d Joe says. \u201cI\u2019m thinking, \u2018How am I going to live with this and not correct it until I\u2019m 66?\u2019\u201cI wanted to bite the bullet and just get it figured out and have four or five months of rehab and pain, and hopefully be 100% for the rest of my life.\u201dBecause they had family trips planned for the early summer, Joe scheduled his surgery for July. He says the shoulder surgery went much better than he expected.\u201cI\u2019m going to attribute it again to Dr. Hughes’ skills,\u201d Joe says. \u201cShoulder surgeries are supposed to be one of the worst, and it wasn\u2019t that bad. Don\u2019t get me wrong, it was horrible sleeping in the sling and whatever. But I\u2019ve said it numerous times: I was pleasantly surprised.\u201dHoping for Pain-Free FuturesWith his knee fully healed, Maddox wrapped up a successful Mt. Lebanon baseball career in 2025. After the WPIAL championship and state runner-up finish in 2023, he helped Mt. Lebanon finish second in the WPIAL in 2024 as starting catcher. In 2025, he was named all-section after leading Mt. Lebanon to the playoffs.Now, he’ll realize his dream of playing college baseball at Millersville.\u201cMy goals are to start and get on the field as soon as I can and hopefully win a national championship with a great program I’m going to,\u201d he says.Joe started physical therapy for his shoulder in August with John Scott Colombo, DPT, at UPMC Rehabilitation Institute – South Hills.He says he’s well ahead of where he hoped to be at this point.\u201cI couldn\u2019t be happier with my outcome as well,\u201d Joe says.Maddox says he’s had no setbacks with his knee through multiple seasons of playing baseball. He’s thankful to Dr. Hughes and his staff for their help.\u201cThey’re great people,\u201d he says. \u201cThey know what they’re doing. They’re very friendly, professional, and everything. They keep everything very exact, and it\u2019s not hard to follow.\u201dSources"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2025","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2025\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"09","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2025\/\/09\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Joe and Maddox’s Story: Father and Son See Great Results from the Same UPMC Orthopaedic Surgeon","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2025\/09\/joe-maddox-orthopaedic-surgery\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]