OPA Welcomes Dr. Christopher Wahl!

OPA Welcomes Dr. Christopher Wahl!

Orthopedic Physician Associates (OPA Ortho) is pleased to welcome Christopher Wahl, MD back to Seattle and to Orthopedic Physician Associates (OPAOrtho).

Dr. Wahl was former Associate Professor and Team Physician at the University of Washington (UW) for 8 years from 2004-2012, where he cared for the Washington Husky football, men’s basketball, women’s soccer, tennis and gymnastics squads, among others. Most recently, he served as Associate Professor and Chief of the Division of Sports Medicine at UC San Diego and was the Head Team Physician for the San Diego Chargers.

Dr. Wahl brings back to Seattle a unique skillset. He is fellowship trained in Sports Medicine/Shoulder Surgery and Trauma surgery – with a specific subspecialty interest in treating athletes of all ages with problems related to the knee, shoulder, elbow, and ankle. He has lectured and published extensively on the treatment of high-energy, complex knee ligament injuries, specifically the treatment of the multiple-ligament-injured knee, cruciate ligament (ACL/PCL) reconstruction, cartilage and meniscus transplantation, re-alignment osteotomies, knee arthroplasty (replacement), patellar instability/dislocation and the revision of failed prior surgical procedures. His experience and surgical volume of treating knee dislocations is among the most comprehensive in the country. Dr. Wahl also has published widely and specializes in the surgical treatment of a variety of shoulder and elbow problems including instability/dislocation, instability with bone loss (Hill-Sachs defects/bony Bankart defects), rotator cuff tears, and arthritis.

Dr. Wahl attended medical school and completed his orthopedic residency training at Yale. He completed a Sports Medicine and Shoulder Surgery Fellowship at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, where he had his first exposure to professional team athletics assisting Dr. Russ Warren in the care of the New York Giants. He was awarded the A.O. John Border Traveling Trauma Fellowship where he studied with trauma surgeons in Augsburg, Germany and Zurich, Switzerland. After a brief tenure as a clinical instructor at Yale, Dr. Wahl moved to Seattle in 2004 as Assistant (then Associate) Professor and Team Physician for the UW Huskies. He was awarded the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine Traveling Fellowship and spent five weeks touring to visit with prominent surgeons in Mexico City, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. After moving to San Diego in 2012, Dr. Wahl spearheaded the design, development and construction of UCSD’s first dedicated sports medicine clinical facility, scheduled to open in August 2015. The facility brings together operative and non-operative providers from several subspecialties. Dr. Wahl developed and galvanized a role for UC San Diego with the San Diego Chargers and the United States Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California.

The practice is not limited to elite athletes, however. “I believe that every person and their injury is unique. No single solution fits the particular needs of every patient, so the treatment has to be individualized to a person’s activity, their aspirations, expectations, and situation. My job is to learn as much as I can about my patients as individual people, appreciate the nuances of their problem, and work with them to find absolute best state-of-the-art and proven treatment options available. I practice individualized, intensive, progressive and cutting edge treatments with the hope to meet and exceed expectations for a return to a happy, healthy, and active lifestyle.”

In his spare time, Dr. Wahl also enjoys a healthy lifestyle cycling, skiing and sailing with his wife, three children and two dogs.

Dr. Wahl will be seeing patients beginning in early June at two OPA locations in Seattle – Laurelhurst and First Hill (located at the Swedish Orthopedic Institute). For appointments please call (206) 523-1422.