SCOTT VAN NIEKERK

Scott is a New York State licensed Physical Therapist. He founded and opened Wholistic Physical Therapy in 2002- fulfilling his vision of creating a Sacred space that treats the entire human being rather than the more fragmented approach of western medicine. His professional training, experience, and empathic nature enable him to help you in your journey back to a pain-free active lifestyle.

Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Africa with Lake Kariba in his backyard and elephants 🐘 and leopards 🐆 as his frequent companions, Scott discovered his gift for healing at a young age.

He graduated from the Medical School at the University of Cape Town, South Africa in 1995 with a degree in Physical Therapy. At the time, UCT was acclaimed as one of the world’s strongest manual therapy training programs.

A great desire to study with a true manual therapy master drove Scott to the United States to be mentored by John Barnes, founder of the Myofascial Release approach to Physical Therapy. He quickly became a “therapist to therapists” as he mastered this MFR approach and began teaching Barnes MFR Seminars nationwide for over a decade.

Scott founded and named the healing center “Wholistic” very intentionally because he believes 1)in a Whole person approach. And 2) he believes a Whole food plant based diet is a wise choice

Honing his skills over time, and developing his own specialized approach to healing the body, led him inevitably to nutrition and food as medicine. Scott advocates a whole food, plant-passionate approach to eating which reduces pain and inflammation and strengthens the microbiome, thereby dramatically increasing the overall health of the body. Inspiring healthy living became Scott’s mission and his life. Scott “talks the talk and walks the walk” as they say, his life is healthy AND inspired—the devoted father of 4 kids, Scott consumes a massive amount of plants (eating what elephants eat) to fuel his active lifestyle of yoga, meditation, hiking, martial arts (2nd degree black belt in Karate) and time with his 2 dogs.

A treatment with Scott can feel like a healing journey back to your Self- a safe place of balance, the release of pain and the remembrance of what it feels like to be in the integrated human state of healthy body, calm mind and a spirit set free.