EDGA PROFILE: DAPHNE VAN HOUTEN

“When you jump and land then your spine will compress, and I knew because of that my back was getting worse.” 

Daphne van Houten – tough love and second chances

Written by EDGA

For Daphne van Houten, a single degree would have made little difference to the way her spine functioned. Daphne explained that for most people a spine that is positioned between 0º- 10º from vertical generally works fine, so when she found her spine was at 52º it was time to do something about it. 

Daphne, born in the University town of Utrecht in the Netherlands, had started to play golf when just six years of age with her parents Henk and Monique, but golf was not everything in her life. Handball was another sport that she excelled in and just a few years later she would have to make a decision, but in the meantime sport, of any kind, was fun.  Playing with her parents at Almkreek helped Daphne to develop enough skills to gain a golf handicap. 

All children around the age of twelve are required by law to attend a physical screening. It was at this screening day that she and her parents learned that her back wasn’t straight. “I went to the hospital, got it x-rayed and that is when they found out,” says Daphne. With those words from the doctor, Daphne knew that she couldn’t play handball anymore, “When you jump and land then your spine will compress, and I knew that because of that my back was getting worse.”

Daphne chose to play golf as she couldn’t find it in herself to give up both sports at the same time, “At first I didn’t notice that my back was getting worse…but when you practice one sport in one way, then it was not good.”  After only a few months it was clear that she needed to take action to stop the spine from getting even worse. Together with her father Henk, they decided that she should not have an operation until she had finished growing and so she went into therapy in Germany. “It was an intern therapy where I did exercise from eight o’clock in the morning until six o’clock in the evening,” recalls Daphne. She fully embraced the programme with Katharina Schroth, and reduced the Scoliosis of her spine from 50º to 37º which was an excellent return on her investment of time, but she realised, “I would have to repeat the exercises everyday for an hour… and I didn’t have the time… so when I got to the age of seventeen then I decided it was better to get an operation.”  

Life has a way of preparing people…