How do you choose a good physiotherapist?

First check whether the physiotherapist is listed in the public BIG register, searchable at bigregister.nl. Then look at whether their specialization matches your complaint, whether the practice is open at times that work for you, and what your health insurance covers. Since 2006, you generally don't need a referral from your GP in the Netherlands; you can book directly with a practice yourself.

Check the BIG Register First

Search "physiotherapist" plus your town on Google and you'll get dozens of practices, all with friendly team photos and roughly the same copy. So start with registration, the one thing on those websites nobody can fake.

In the Netherlands, "physiotherapist" is a legally protected title under the Wet BIG, the law governing individual healthcare professions. Only someone listed in the BIG register may use that title, and doing so puts them under Dutch medical disciplinary law. The register is public: at bigregister.nl you search by name. If you already have a BIG number, say from the practice website, you know for certain you're looking at the right person.

Registration tells you about training and legal authority. Whether the treatment style suits you, you only find out in the treatment room; no register covers that part.

Does the Specialization Match Your Complaint?

After the base training, physiotherapists can specialize further. You'll find those specializations in the Individual Register Fysiotherapie, run by Kwaliteitshuis Fysiotherapie. This register replaced KRF NL on 1 January 2025. There's also a second quality register for physiotherapists and practices, run by Stichting Keurmerk Fysiotherapie.

The Individual Register Fysiotherapie has nine sub-registers, including:

  • manual therapist (manueeltherapeut)
  • pediatric physiotherapist (kinderfysiotherapeut)
  • geriatric physiotherapist, for older adults (geriatriefysiotherapeut)
  • pelvic physiotherapist (bekkenfysiotherapeut)
  • sports physiotherapist (sportfysiotherapeut)

You Usually Don't Need a Referral

Since January 2006, physiotherapy in the Netherlands has had direct access. You don't need to see your GP first for a referral letter; you just call or email a practice yourself.

At your first appointment, the physiotherapist runs a short screening. That's where they check whether your complaint is actually something physiotherapy can treat, or whether you should see a doctor first instead.

One thing to confirm beforehand: for reimbursement under the chronic conditions list, your insurer sometimes wants to see a referral or diagnosis from a doctor. One phone call to your insurer saves you a headache later.

What Does Your Insurance Cover?

The core rules sit on Rijksoverheid.nl, the Dutch government's site. For adults, physiotherapy falls under the basic health insurance (basisverzekering) only for conditions on the chronic conditions list kept by Zorginstituut Nederland, and even then only from the 21st treatment onward. You cover the first 20 yourself, or through supplementary insurance. A few exceptions exist: up to 12 sessions of exercise therapy for hip or knee osteoarthritis, and the first 9 sessions of pelvic physiotherapy for urinary incontinence.

Children under 18 fall under different rules: the first 9 treatments are covered, and if that's not enough, the insurer can add 9 more. If the condition is on the chronic list, every treatment is covered.

If your condition isn't on that list and doesn't fall under one of the exceptions, the basic insurance pays nothing, and everything depends on your supplementary package. How many sessions that includes varies by policy. Work it out before your first appointment. An invoice is a rough time to find out.

Policy terms change year to year, and we're not insurance advisors. The rules above come from Rijksoverheid.nl; check there, and with your own insurer, for how things stand right now.

Can You Actually Get There?

A course of treatment is rarely a single visit. Expect several appointments, spread over weeks and sometimes longer. A practice that's only open 9 to 5 while you're at work those same hours quickly becomes a reason to give up halfway through. Questions worth asking beforehand:

  • Can you get an appointment before 8:30am or after 5:30pm, or only during office hours?
  • How long is the wait for a first appointment?
  • Is there parking, or somewhere to lock a bike?
  • Does the practice answer email, or only the phone during opening hours?

What the Practice Website Tells You

You can answer a lot of this without picking up the phone. A good practice website shows who works there and what they're registered in, what a session costs if you're paying yourself, and how to book. Some practices let you pick a time slot online directly.

If none of that is there, the treatment can still be perfectly good. You'll just spend more time calling around to find out.

Do you run a physiotherapy practice and recognize your own site in that list of missing information? We wrote a separate guide on building a website for a physiotherapy practice.

Read Patient Experiences on ZorgkaartNederland

On ZorgkaartNederland, an initiative of the Dutch patient federation Patiëntenfederatie Nederland, patients rate healthcare providers, physiotherapists and practices included. You can read how others experienced the explanations, the bedside manner, and the wait times.

Read these the way you'd read hotel reviews. One furious or glowing comment doesn't tell you much; a pattern across dozens of ratings tells you a lot more. Pay attention to what people describe: "took the time to explain what was going on" says more than five stars with no comment attached.

The First Appointment Is Also a Test

One appointment doesn't commit you to anything. Use that first session to test whether this is the right place for you. Ask what the plan is, roughly how many treatments the physiotherapist expects you'll need (an estimate, not a guarantee), and what one session costs if you're paying out of pocket.

Clear answers mean you know where you stand. If it stays vague, or it just doesn't click, you book your next appointment somewhere else.