Harriët Wittink
Harriët Wittink PhD has been a professor for and chair of the research group Lifestyle and Health at HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht since 2007. She started her career as a physiotherapist and obtained her doctorate with a thesis on the relationship between physical activity, physical fitness and chronic low back pain.
Within the research group, Wittink studies the relationship between exercise and health. She focuses on people with certain medical conditions that prevent them from exercising. Working together with remedial therapists and physiotherapists, her aim is to improve the current state of healthcare for the patients’ benefit.
- 2007 – present: Professor and Chair of the Research group Lifestyle and Health at the Faculty of Healthcare, HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht
- 2005 – 2007: Programme Manager for the professional master’s programme in Physiotherapy
- 1998: Obtained her PhD at Boston University with a dissertation entitled ‘Physical activity, physical fitness and chronic low back pain’
Fields of expertise
- Physiotherapy; exercise physiology
- Chronic pain rehabilitation
- Clinimetrics
Publications
- Development and internal validation of a multivariable prognostic model to predict chronic pain after a new episode of non-specific idiopathic, non-traumatic neck pain in physiotherapy primary care practice
- A study protocol for the validation of a prognostic model with an emphasis on modifiable factors to predict chronic pain after a new episode of acute- or subacute nonspecific idiopathic, non-traumatic neck pain presenting in primary care
- Physiotherapists Using the Biopsychosocial Model for Chronic Pain: Barriers and Facilitators - A scoping review
