Medical and Health Committee advises VA board

In combat sports, the health of participants is a challenging issue. Athletes do everything they can to be as healthy and fit as possible, but by definition contests involve risks. The Nederlandse Vechtsportautoriteit (Dutch Combat Sports Authority) takes advice on health matters from specialists. But who are these people? They are doctors with a genuine commitment to combat sports, who do not mince their words.

Bas Pijnenburg has been a member of the VA board since it was founded in 2017. In daily life he is an orthopaedic surgeon. This means he deals with all bones, joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments in the human body. He is also an experienced ringside physician, including for the UFC when it holds events in Europe or the Middle East. His profession and his passion for combat sports regularly come together on his operating table. Among others, he has treated fighters such as Melvin Manhoef, G\u00f6khan Saki and Badr Hari for injuries.

Doctor Pijnenburg hosts the Medical Committee, which meets four times a year in an online session. He is there above all to listen, on behalf of the VA board, to the experts who wish to share their knowledge, experience and views. The committee discusses many different subjects. For example the training of ringside physicians. And what should ringside physicians look for during the medical examination before a contest? From what age should kicks and strikes to the head be permitted? How long should the medical suspension last for an athlete who has been knocked out? All these questions are examined from the various fields of expertise of the committee members.

Soeresh Bhatoe is one of these members. He is coordinator of Fighting Doctors, the network of ringside physicians working in kickboxing, muaythai and MMA. He is himself one of the most experienced ringside physicians in combat sports. For some 25 years he has been at the ring or the cage safeguarding the health of participants.

His fellow ringside physician Hakim Benali is also a member of the committee. He works as an anaesthesiologist at the Maasstad Ziekenhuis hospital in Rotterdam. At weekends he attends combat sports events, from small gym galas with mainly youth bouts to elite galas with contests in the A class.

Ed van Wijk brings slightly different experience to the committee. He is also a ringside physician, but mainly in the boxing world. He also chairs the medical committee of the boxing federation. The VA and the boxing federation are keen to exchange knowledge and experience, so that they can learn from and strengthen one another.

Yet another perspective comes from Niels Wijne. He is a sports physician at the Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis (OLVG) hospital in Amsterdam. He also works at the elite sports outpatient clinic of Amsterdam UMC. In addition, he is head of the medical staff at football club Ajax.

In recent years Jessica Gal was also part of the committee. The former Olympic judo athlete has her own practice as a sports physician. She is leaving the committee this year.

The newest member is Sharaisha Bilgoe, PhD candidate in orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine. She has been a keen recreational kickboxer for years. The VA came to know her when she was conducting research into possible links between injuries and mental health complaints among elite kickboxers, and recently asked her to join the committee.