Top athletes are increasingly opting for osteopathy

We are increasingly reading reports in the media that (top) athletes are choosing to be treated by an osteopath when they suffer an injury. Well-known athletes such as footballers Arjan Robben, Robin van Persie, Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba, tennis player Robin Haasse and cyclist Bauke Mollema (and other cyclists too, for that matter) are regular visitors to the osteopath’s treatment room. Karen Heinen, until recently a top basketball player, has benefited greatly from osteopathy. She regularly visits osteopath Jop Mur at Osteopaat Amsterdam.

Basketball player Karen Heinen benefits greatly from osteopathy

Top-level sport leaves its mark

Karen Heinen is 32 years old and has played basketball at a high level for 18 years. Among other things, she has been a member of the Dutch national basketball team. Karen has now stopped playing sport at the highest level. However, sport is in her blood and she still exercises regularly. Karen herself says about sport: ‘It’s a necessity of life.’ Unfortunately, all those years of training, playing sport and the associated stress have left their mark on her physically.

“I’m looking forward to my appointment with Jop, because it’s such a relief”.

During the last two or three years of her professional sports career, Karen had various physical complaints: injuries, stomach problems, osteoarthritis in her hip and stress-related complaints, including back and neck pain and shortness of breath. Her GP advised Karen to see an osteopath. The appointment with Jop Mur was a bull’s eye. Karen: ‘I was looking for someone who did more than just muscle massages and who looked at my complaints in a different way. Jop radiates calmness, listens very carefully to my problem and treats it very calmly, taking the time to find out where it comes from. I really feel relieved when I leave his practice.’

Pressure and tension

The life of a professional basketball player in the Netherlands is not easy. In the Netherlands, you cannot play professionally full-time, which means that you have to work on your social career alongside your sporting career. Karen: ‘It’s all quite a lot. In addition to working and studying, you have to train, and then there’s the pressure of the matches. At a certain point, your body says, stop! My muscles, my body, everything was tired. My diaphragm and abdomen were very tense, my neck and back were very painful, and I had irritable bowel syndrome. Thanks to the treatment at Jop, the tension in my diaphragm has decreased significantly and my abdomen is also calmer. I can now breathe better and more calmly.’