Professor Niek van Dijk is a world authority in the field of arthroscopy and ankle surgery. Over the years, he has developed new techniques for the treatment of ankle, hindfoot and Achilles tendon disorders. His surgical techniques have spread around the world and have benefited top athletes such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Joao Felix, Juan Carlos Navarro, Keylor Navas, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Pepe, Marcello, David Luiz, Marco van Basten, and many other non-athletes with ankle problems. Champions League teams such as Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Manchester United, Arsenal, Milan, Juventus, AS Roma, FC Barcelona, FC Porto, SL Benfica and AJAX consult him in case of injury.

For many years he was president of leading national and international organizations in the field of sports traumatology and ankle surgery. He is an honorary member of several international societies and associations, including the Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Greek and German societies of arthroscopy and sports traumatology. He has mentored 55 doctoral students.

His great interest in teaching spurred him to develop the open-access website Ankleplatform. On Ankleplatform his techniques are freely available to surgeons.

• In 2005 he was an Honorary Member of the Greek Arthroscopy Association (HAA), Thessaloniki, Greece.
• In 2005 Cappagh Trust Conference: “Lateral Ankle Ligament Injuries”; Visiting Professor, Cappagh National Orthopaedic Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
• In 2007 he was an Honorary Member of the Czech Society of Sports Traumatology and Arthroscopy (SSTA).
• In 2007 Rose Honorary Lecture: “Treatment of OCD”; Visiting Professor, Hospital of Special Surgery (HSS), New York, USA.
• Nel 2010 Grand Round Lecture: “Osteochondral Talar Defects: Current Concepts”; Visiting Professor Harvard University, Boston, USA.
• In 2011 he was an Honorary Member of ASTAOR (Association of Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopic, Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation), Russia.
• In 2011, he was an Honorary Member of GRECMIP (Groupe de la Chirurgie Mini-Invasive et de la Cheville), France.
• In 2013 he was an Honorary Member of the Slovak Society of Sports Arthroscopy and Traumatology (SSAST).
• In 2014, he received the ESSKAR Award for ESSKA’s most valuable section/committee (as President of ESSKA-AFAS).
• In 2014 Honorary Lecture “Osteochondral defects in the ankle: the rationale for diagnosis and treatment,” 29th Annual GOTS (Association of Orthopedic and Trauma Sports Medicine) Congress, Munich, Germany.
• In 2014 Presidential Lecture “Current Dilemmas and the Future in Orthopedics,” 13th International Congress of the Argentine Association of Arthroscopy (AAA), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• In 2014 he was an Honorary Member of the Argentine Arthroscopy Association.
• In 2015 he was an Honorary Member of the Sociedade Portuguesa de Artroscopia e Traumatologia Desportiva (SPAT).

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=van+Dijk+CN

• In 1977 he received his Ph.D. from the University of Leiden.
• He began his residency at the Centraal Military Hospital in Utrecht and continued at the Wilhelmina Gasthuis Department of Experimental Surgery in Amsterdam.
• Between 1979 and 1985, he was instructed by Prof. R.K. Marti in Orthopedic Surgery at the Amsterdam Academic Medical Center (AMC).
• In 1994 he received his Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam, discussing a thesis entitled “Diagnostic Strategies in Patients with Severe Ankle Sprains” (Supervisor: Prof. R.K. Marti).

• In 1985 he was Orthopedic Consultant at the National Ballet in Amsterdam.
• From 2000 to 2001 he was president of the Dutch Orthopedic Association.
• From 2002 to 2016, he was Director of the Orthopedic Department at Academica Medical Center
• From 2003 to 2005 he was president of the Dutch Orthopaedic Association.
• From 2008 to 2010 he was president of the Nordic Orthopaedic Federation.
• From 2010 to 2012, he was European president of the Society of Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy.
• In 2014, he was chairman of the biannual ESSKA Congress Amsterdam.
• He served as Director of the Orthopedic Department at Amsterdam University Hospital.
• He is founder of the Orthopedic Research Center in Amsterdam and the Amsterdam Foot & Ankle School.
• He practices at FIFA Medical Centers of Excellence in Madrid and Porto and at Casa di Cura San Rossore in Pisa.

• In 2001 he was Professor in Arthroscopic Surgery at the University of Amsterdam.
• From 2002 to 2016 he was Full Professor at the University of Amsterdam.
• In 2010 he was an affiliate professor at the University of Minho in Portugal.
• In 2014 he was an affiliate professor at the University of Porto in Portugal.

He was the author of:

• “Ankle Arthroscopy. Techniques developed by the Amsterdam Foot and Ankle School”, Springer Heidelberg New York London, 2014, with anatomical illustrations by Pao Golanó.
• Inaugural address: “Motivation. The patient as source of inspiration,” Vossius Press UvA, Amsterdam, 1994.
• Thesis: “On Diagnostic Strategies in Patients with Severe Ankle Sprain”, Rodopi, Amsterdam, 1994.

He has been co-editor of 11 books.

Niek van Dijk has published more than 375 indexed scientific publications, written more than 100 book chapters, and served as editor of several books. He is editor-in-chief of JISAKOS, the journal of ISAKOS (the world’s leading society for sports trauma and knee and ankle surgery).

Over the years, he has taught his techniques to many orthopedic surgeons.

His contributions to orthopedic surgery are numerous, starting with his innovative concepts on osteochondral defects of the talus and the development of several minimally invasive techniques. Thanks to these techniques, most ailments today can be treated by arthroscopy: its basic premise is that “why to do it is as important as how to do it.”

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