Sports and exercising are fun and it's healthy as well. One person might play competition and is in it to win, another person goes for a run on a regular basis, and someone else would like to get in shape or loose some weight.

The sport physiotherapist is the right person for the treatment of sports injuries. But he (or she) can also advise and support athletes when practicing their sports or to improve performances and reduce the chance off injuries. Furthermore, his expertise can be used to advise and support people who want to start exercising (again).

The NVFS Sport Physiotherapist

There are over 600 NVFS sport physiotherapists practicing in the Netherlands. (The NVSF stands for Nederlandse Vereniging voor Fysiotherapeuten in de Sportgezondheidszorg).
They have been trained as a sport physiotherapist after completing their physiotherapy studies. Therefore, they know what a sport demands of the body, what exercising does to us and they are familiar with the motivation of athletes. This makes the sport physiotherapist capable of advising, treating and supporting in the area of sports and health. This does not only apply to situations in which the doctor refers the patient. Everyone can directly contact and make an appointment with the NVFS sport physiotherapist. It depends on your health insurance which treatments can be considered for financial compensation.

Most athletes push themselves to keep improving their performance: to run faster, to score more often, to bike longer, and to be better at defence, etcetera. To achieve this, an athlete often needs to improve a combination of things, such as technique, strength, flexibility, speed, quickness of reaction and stamina. The sport physiotherapist helps athletes to improve their performance. He or she can advise on following the right training schedule and gives exercises to, for example, improve flexibility or speed. This improves an athlete's performance and helps to prevent injuries.
The sport physiotherapist is the right professional to ask for advise when you feel something in your shoulder during every serve. When someone sprains his or her ankle a lot, it is advisable to turn to the sports physiotherapist. He or she advises about choosing appropriate running shoes, gives a helpful brace, gives exercises and gives advise about movement techniques. If you present your training schedule to the sport physiotherapist when you're preparing for running a marathon, he will tell you if you're not rushing things or going to slow. In order to get advise and support, the athlete can come to the clinic and he or she will be informed about the prevention of injuries, or for example get individual instructions during practice. Furthermore, the sport physiotherapist has a large network within sports and coaching. Therefore additional knowledge is within reach.  

 

 

Injured athletes, treatment and support

An injured athlete wants to recover and be active again as soon as possible. A sport aimed treatment and support from the sports physiotherapist make sure this happens. Sports minded as he or she is, the sport physiotherapist knows how the athlete feels and will do everything within his or her power to make sure the athlete recovers and is back on track as soon as possible. Of course the first thing to do is to find out what exactly happened. The next step is to not only treat the patient, but also to advice how the athlete can be as fit as possible during this unpleasant period. When the condition of the patient improves, the sport physiotherapist will guide the athlete towards his or her original performance level. Sometimes the injury is complex or the situation demands specific attention. In those cases it is good to know that the sports physiotherapist is part of a sports specific medical network. If necessary, he will make sure that the athlete can turn to a sports doctor, manual therapist or a different professional. 

There are two NVSF sport physiotherapists working within our clinic at this moment: Brigitte Mooij and Hans Koning.
In addition, Liliane Mandema has extra knowledge and affinity concerning running and track, because of her topsports background (former dutch champion 400 metres, dutch clubrecord 4 x 400). Friso Postma has this knowledge and affinity in the area of korfball. 

The clinic has connections with Haag Atletiek and Die Haghe, and we also participate in the network Den Haag Topsport.