Blazers Hire Dr. Christopher Stackpole As Director Of Player Health And Performance

The Portland Trail Blazers announced Monday the hiring of Dr. Christopher Stackpole, who will serve as the organization's Director of Player Health and Performance.

The Portland Trail Blazers have named Dr. Christopher Stackpole as their Director of Player Health and Performance, it was announced today by General Manager Neil Olshey.

Stackpole will lead all facets of the Trail Blazers medical staff to collaboratively provide preventative maintenance and rehabilitative health care to Trail Blazers players. He will work closely with the team's athletic trainers, physicians, strength and conditioning specialists, nutritionists, psychologists and therapeutic specialists to integrate rehabilitative concepts into performance training.

"Chris' vision and blueprint for developing innovative and evidence-based sports medicine services are paramount in our effort to establish the highest level of care for our players," said Olshey. "Adding Chris to our staff is the next critical step toward creating the best culture and basketball environment for our athletes."

A resident of Newington, Conn., Stackpole earned a Doctoral Degree in Physical Therapy (2011) and Bachelor of Science Degree in Athletic Training (2009) from Boston University. Stackpole is a Licensed Physical Therapist, Certified/Licensed Athletic Trainer, and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist.

Stackpole most recently worked as a Physical Therapist at ProEx Physical Therapy in Farmington, Conn. He gained NBA experience in 2011 with the Oklahoma City Thunder, where he completed a doctoral level clinical internship.

Here's some background on Stackpole courtesy of ProEx Physical Therapy.

Prior to joining ProEx, Stackpole was the Sports Performance Coach for former Boston Celtic's center Kendrick Perkins; previously he was a Clinical Education Facilitator with the Boston University Athletic Training Program.

...

His continuing education course work includes TRX Suspension Training and Gua Sha Instrument-Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization from Athletes' Performance.

Stackpole delivered a presentation on "Injury Prevention Training: Critical Considerations and Protocol for the Future" at the 81st Annual Massachusetts Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance State Convention held in 2010 in Worcester, MA.

Stackpole's LinkedIn page describes his experience as follows.

Staff Physical Therapist at ProEx Physical Therapy
Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Medical Practice industry
February 2012 - Present (1 year 5 months) Farmington, CT

Sports Performance Coach at Stackpole's Movement Evolution
2010 - Present (3 years) Newington, CT

Sport performance training offered with a unique integration of sports medicine and rehabilitation to prevent injury/return from injury and develop into a well-rounded athletic individual.

Jason Quick of The Oregonian has more here.

"I don't think there is any question the Blazers are ahead of the curve with this hire; they've got a rising star, a guy who would be doing this for another professional team somewhere very quickly if they didn't hire him,'' said Mike Boyle, strength-and-conditioning consultant for the Boston Red Sox, with whom Stackpole served an internship. "I'm not familiar with what has gone on there in the past, but what you will see is what is widely viewed as as much more modern - even futuristic - to some people.''

...

"The first thing I will do is identify what players - whether they were drafted or undrafted - are at the highest risk of injury,'' Stackpole said. "We will do that by movement screens, baseline tests. We will look at how they function, then design programs for the athlete so we can decrease their risk.''

...

Stackpole said he will report to Portland in the coming weeks and plans to evaluate the staff before deciding if he will make any moves.

Stackpole is on Twitter here.

I'm a Physical Therapist, Sports Performance Coach, Athletic Trainer and cancer survivor!

He has a YouTube channel of various exercises right here.

Here's a video he put together of Perkins rehabilitating.

The Blazers parted ways with longtime trainer Jay Jensen back in May.

Top image via ProExPT.com.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter