About me

Anneke Verbeeck

AUTHOR, KEYNOTE SPEAKER, CREATIVE THINKER

I have 25 years of practical experience as a chiropractor and am the author of the book 'The Back-Up Plan'.

In my practice, I often saw the same pattern recurring: people keep looking for quick solutions, but do not change their underlying behavior.

That is why I developed a different approach – focused on insight, behavior, and sustainable change.

READY TO CRACK THE CODE OF YOUR BACK?

If you have already tried everything and are constantly dealing with symptoms, it might be time for a plan B: a Back-Up Plan tailored to you.

How it all began...

'What do you want to be when you grow up?' was one of the hardest questions I ever had to answer. Chiropractor wasn't on my list, because I wasn't familiar with that profession yet. Medicine did interest me, though. The ingenious workings of the human body fascinated me. At the same time, I also loved reading, writing, and making music. So many fields of study, so many possibilities… One thing I did know: I wanted to help people. In the meantime, my Why has become even clearer:

I want to create insight, so that people realize there are multiple possibilities, that things can be done differently, so that they make conscious choices and walk their own unique path.

But I hadn't reached that point yet when I had to choose a field of study. Fortunately, after my secondary school studies, an extra year of reflection followed. At the age of eighteen, I got the chance to travel the world with Up With People. A year full of encounters and discoveries. In the US, I met a chiropractor—rather by chance—and I knew I had found my field of study. Chiropractic revealed itself as a discipline within healthcare that emphasizes movement and a healthy lifestyle. And it just so happens that these are precisely the 'natural remedies' I most enjoy working with.

Moreover, I would be allowed to spend another five years abroad. Since the study of chiropractic is not taught in Belgium—even to this day—I left for the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic in Bournemouth, England, for the next five academic years. After completing the full-time university program, I graduated in 2001 with a BSc (Bachelor in Human Sciences) and an MSc (Master in Chiropractic). I returned to Belgium and started my own practice in my hometown of Mechelen, which quickly grew into a successful group practice: Terug-Fit. The three pillars of this group practice are also the three pillars upon which I built the Back-Up Plan: mechanical, emotional, and biochemical causes of neck and back pain. In 2010, I opened a second (solo) practice in Wondelgem when I moved to Ghent with my husband: Chiropraxie Wondelgem.

Day in, day out, I have helped people with neck and back problems over the past decades. To do so, I employed my two most important tools: my hands. No medication or infiltrations were involved. I literally took neck and back problems 'in hand'. In that daily contact with patients, I realized more and more – and the scientific literature and clinical guidelines confirm this – that chronic neck and back complaints are not merely a physical problem, but an interplay of multiple factors. Persistent neck or back pain is more than a 'blocked vertebra' or a 'muscle that has gone into spasm'. As chiropractors, we can help a tremendous number of people with neck and back problems, but the many years in practice have also humbled me. Some patients actually need a very different approach than a chiropractor who works on their spine at regular intervals. They have a greater need for relaxation, or a good conversation with a friend. They carry too much body weight. Or they must learn to stop carrying the wallet in the back pocket, because it causes irritation of the gluteal muscles.

Customized office chairs, changing jobs, special pillows, Pilates training, a new mattress, plank exercises, a standing desk, arch supports, a massage pillow – there are so many 'solutions' for neck and back pain. What works for one person is not necessarily beneficial for someone else. One size fits all does not exist for neck and back complaints.

Undergoing a therapy that is not a solution for your pain trigger,

is like carrying water to the sea.

That is why I developed 'The Back-Up Plan', so that you start listening to what your body needs and start acting on it!

Discover the Backup Plan