‘I’ve been asked to come’ – Liverpool have quietly enlisted chief doctor to ‘reduce risk of injury’

Liverpool appointed Frigyes Vanden Auweele as head of osteopathy in July to help reduce injuries

Liverpool’s head of osteopathy says the decision to join the club last summer was a no-brainer, describing working for the club as “the best you can get”.

Dr Frigyes Vanden Auweele was brought on board and installed as the club’s head of osteopathy in July, with Liverpool describing his role as someone called upon to ‘enhance performance and reduce the risk of injury’ within Liverpool’s squad. Jurgen Klopp.

The Belgian moved to Anfield due to his work at Oud-Heverlee Leuven football club, Trek-Segafredo cycling team and VHL volleyball club, according to Liverpoolfc.com.

Liverpool say Dr. Vanden Auweele joined “as a specialist in osteopathy, whose aim is to identify, treat and prevent problems in the athlete’s body by focusing on dysfunction of the musculoskeletal system and the peripheral and autonomic nervous systems. The main objective is to improve performance and reduce the risk of injury.”

And the dr. Vanden Auweele, who is part of Andreas Schlumberger’s team in the medical department, told the club’s official website that he hadn’t missed an opportunity to move to Liverpool to help Klopp and his staff at the AXA Training Center in Kirkby. He said: “I was asked to come. At first they didn’t tell me which team. I was busy enough already and didn’t know what team it was, but when I found out what team it was I couldn’t say no.

“Obviously that’s the best you can as a sports therapist, as a sports osteopath. Trek-Segafredo was also a world team, so I was working with very, very tall, world athletes. But it’s different.

“The fact that I can do my job here full time is also new to me, because I’ve worked as a consultant, so I give advice and I can’t follow it all the time. It’s new to me that I can do the trick of sports osteopathy and go further.

“It is also very valuable for me: not only advice, but also treatment and follow-up. I’m very proud to be able to do this because as an athletic therapist it’s of course the best you can do, so I hope to do my thing here and be of help. I’m happy to be here”.

According to Liverpool, the osteopath holds a master’s degree in physiotherapy from the research university KU Leuven before studying at Flanders International College of Osteopathy in Antwerp.

Dr. Hired in 2020, Schlumberger took on more responsibility towards the end of last season as the Reds chased down an unprecedented four-way matchup before Dr. Auweele joined his expanded squad ahead of the start of the season in course.

However, despite their best efforts, Liverpool struggled with fitness issues for much of the campaign. Thiago Alcantara was sidelined for a month following injury on the opening day of the season against Fulham, at a time when Diogo Jota and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were both sidelined with hamstring problems . Thiago recently aggravated a hip problem and could miss next month. Naby Keita had to wait until December before returning to action, while Jota suffered a serious calf injury in a 1-0 defeat by Manchester City in mid-October. Roberto Firmino missed the last 10 games before his return in Monday’s Merseyside derby win against Everton, while Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk have both suffered hamstring strains this term.

Luis Diaz underwent knee surgery in December following a setback in his rehabilitation following an injury sustained at Arsenal in early October. The Colombian fullback, as it stands, is not expected to return until March.