John W. Lyons, III, MD

"If in doubt, examine the patient."

John Lyons, MD, takes pride in being a hands-on doc. "Probably half my patients call me Jack when they come in," he says. "I spend a lot of time talking because I want them to understand their problems and be dynamically involved in their recovery. They should understand what they're doing and why."

Dr. Lyons has been practicing medicine in Berkshire County for thirty years and is himself a third-generation physician. "My grandfather was a doc in the coal-mining region of Pennsylvania," he explains. "My dad, after returning from World War II, decided to be a psychiatrist." The son's choice of orthopaedics seemed natural, given his athletic inclinations (Lyons played multiple sports in high school and rowed in college, winning a national championship in crew in 1969).

"When I came here, I was known as someone who did sports medicine, and that was before there was a formal subdivision." After medical school at Temple University, he did his residency at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Hanover, New Hampshire, and Newington Children's Hospital in Connecticut. While becoming a board-certified orthopaedic surgeon, he trained in joint replacements and was an early practitioner of arthroscopic surgery. "We've been doing ‘scopes since the seventies, beginning in my residency," Lyons says. "The equipment was basic at that time, but now we have electronic equipment that is amazing. We can look into just about every joint."

Dr. Lyons maintains a busy orthopaedic office practice to which he brings his direct approach. "With knee injuries, I get people doing their own program, like getting on an exercise bike. I explain how low-impact exercise is preferable to high impact. With back problems, too, most people can make them better if they get actively involved. I see medicine as more personal than the new guys who rely so much on technology. It's like I keep kidding my junior partners, ‘If in doubt, examine the patient.'"
 
The father of two school-age sons, Dr. Lyons lives in Richmond. One of his two daughters from a previous marriage is continuing the family tradition of doctoring, as she works to complete her residency in family medicine.