Biography
Nathan Hutting (1980) studied physiotherapy (2003) and manual therapy (2009). In 2015, he was awarded a PhD for his dissertation on self-management for employees with complaints of the arm, neck or shoulder (Radboud University, the Netherlands).
Nathan is currently working in the Netherlands as an associate professor at HAN University of Applied Sciences in the Occupation & Health research group. He also works as a physiotherapist and manual therapist in private practice. Since 2022, Nathan has served on the board of the VvAA, the largest association of healthcare professionals in the Netherlands with over 130,000 members. Nathan is the Vice President of the International Federation of Manual and Musculoskeletal Physical Therapists (IFOMPT), a specialty group of World Physiotherapy. He is also a board member of the Physiotherapy Research Society (United Kingdom) and the Pain, Mind and Movement Special Interest Group of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP).
Nathan has been a member and chair of many working groups and advisory committees related to manual therapy and physiotherapy. Currently, he is a member of the Scientific College of Physical Therapy (WCF) of the Royal Dutch Society for Physical Therapy (KNGF) and a member of the scientific advisory board of the Dutch RSI association. Nathan was a member of the congress programme committee of the 2023 World Physiotherapy Congress and he is a current member of the congress programme committee for the 2025 World Physiotherapy Congress.
Nathan was a board member of the Dutch Manual Therapy Association (NVMT) for nine years (2014−2023) and served as an IFOMPT Member Organisation delegate for over seven years (2016−2023). He has been a member of the IFOMPT Advisory Group on Finance since 2016 and has been the group’s chair since 2021.
Nathan’s current research topics include chronic conditions, musculoskeletal conditions, self-management, patient-centred care, occupational health, work-focused healthcare and vascular conditions. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles. Many of these articles have significantly influenced musculoskeletal physiotherapy practice (for example, regarding the assessment of the neck region for potential vascular conditions and blood flow limitations, and the provision of person-centred care and self-management support in musculoskeletal practice).
Nathan has delivered numerous international keynote speeches and congress presentations, and lectured in Africa, Europe, Asia, North America and Oceania/Australia. He chaired focused symposia at the World Physiotherapy congresses in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023. Nathan is an associate editor of the European Journal of Physiotherapy and a member of the editorial board of BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. He is also a member of the international advisory board of Musculoskeletal Science and Practice.
