At our Biokinetics practice we are passionate about movement, exercise as therapy and all things related to functional and holistic treatment
Meet the Team
A team of people taking care of people
Vision & Mission Statement
Vision
Our vision is to establish a professional private practice that provides evidence-based therapy in a clinical setting for individuals of all ages. Also to employ authentic, passionate and trustworthy biokineticists and other co-workers to form a team of people taking care of people. We want to ensure an integrated and holistic approach to long-term management of injuries and conditions. And finally, to promote exercise and movement as a form of therapy, medicine and lifestyle.
Mission
Providing individualized therapy and rehabilitation in the form of clinical exercise treatment that is evidence based. Delivering the treatment via the latest technology to ensure ease of access, clear patient feedback, improve patient adherence and receive follow through treatment for patients. Complete annual CPD’s (Continuous Professional Development points) to stay on top of the latest research and manage practice responsibilites accordingly. Living a life where we not only advise our treatment but follow our own advice to keep the passion and love for what we do.
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Labarre’s bio
Labarré Jansen van Vuuren Biokineticist, a private Biokinetics practice, was established in January 2020 by Labarré Alho. She is a qualified Biokineticist registered with BHF, HPCSA and BASA. The Biokinetics practice was opened in Pretoria East and she and her team has since then been providing professional exercise therapy as treatment to the surrounding community.
After obtaining her BSc Hons Biokinetics Degree at The University of Pretoria, she completed her biokinetics internship at BMW’s Biokinetics department. This included clinical orthopaedic and chronic conditions’ evaluations as well as exercise therapy for their employees at their own medical facility. During her time at BMW she gained experience and insight into industrial and coorporate biokinetics in addition to orthopaedic rehabilitation and chronic condition management. Labarré also completed a Sports Science Degree at The University of Pretoria as well as a BTech Dance Degree at Tshwane University of Technology.
Labarré’s experience
Her patient experience and focus includes multiple orthopaedic & neuromuscular rehabilitation as well as chronic conditions management. She has a special interest in scoliosis specific exercise therapy, chronic pain, Parkinson’s Disease, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and amputee rehabilitation.
Many years of dancing instilled a discipline of executing movements in the most efficient and technical manner. She understands what it takes to work towards a specific movement goal and to always listen to your body. This`enables her to provide exercise therapy to patients in a manner that is easy to understand but also efficient to treat many conditions. Labarré understands the demands on the body in one’s daily life as well as how your condition / injury / pain influences these demands. She has the expertise and passion to assist patients in reaching their goals, improve their condition / performance while reducing pain and minimizing the risk for injuries and prevent surgeries.
Labarré enjoys staying active and healthy through recreational activities such as hiking, squash, mountain biking and body weight training. She believes that a holistic approach to one’s life is the only way to truly improve and maintain long-term goals.
René’s bio
René joined our Biokinetics practice in January 2023 as a Junior Biokineticist.
Ever since studying the human body in high school, she was captivated with the idea of sharing this with people. She was motivated to help people with their health and physical well-being. The complexity of the human body amazed me, particularly how different components function together. René immediately knew that this was her field of interest and that this was where she wanted to further her knowledge, career and life.
She studied at the University of Pretoria and completed her tertiary studies in 2020 with a degree in BSc Sport Science. René decided to continue her studies and completed her fourth year with a BSC Honours degree in Biokinetics in 2021. She is motivated to continue prescribing exercise therapy and changing people’s live for the better. René loves helping people to reach their personal goals and manage long-term physical health. The recovery process and long-term management of conditions is a journey she enjoys taking with people.
René’s experience
Through her studies she developed a fond interest for working with our senior patients as well as the community of runners out there. It was during her internship year, that she could fully dive into working hands on with these groups of people. Presenting group exercise sessions for the senior community quickly became a favourite. Helping them get stronger and fitter to complete daily activities was the goal, but the outcome of a better well-being and morale was a far greater achievement.
Her experience with patients taught her to never underestimate the power of motivation. Their motivation lead to dedicated sessions and ensures a rehabilitation journey that not only surprises her, but the people engaged as well. Her passion to help people with their health has only grown since embarking on this lifelong journey.
René is still inspired and motivated to keep growing while she continues as our community Biokineticists at Labarré Jansen van Vuuren Biokineticist.
Annerien’s bio
We welcome our new Junior Biokineticist Annerien Groenewald.
Annerien earned her 4-year BHSc Biokinetics degree in 2024 from North-West University(NWU) and is a registered biokineticist with the HPCSA.
She is passionate about preventative care, focusing on addressing potential issues before they arise while welcoming the challenges of problem-solving. With a commitment to integrity and fairness, Annerien strives to ensure her work is just and equitable for all. She is deeply motivated to enhance lives through biokinetics by helping individuals achieve healthier, more comfortable lifestyles and contributing to a more inclusive world. Annerien prioritizes her patients’ best interests, keeping the bigger picture in mind during rehabilitation and working to improve functionality.
She values continuous learning, ensuring her work consistently aligns with the highest standards of patient care.
Annerien’s experience
During her BHSc Biokinetics degree, Annerien completed two years of clinical rotations at various biokinetics practices, gaining valuable experience working with orthopaedic, special population and general wellness patients. She has a particular passion for working with dancers, leveraging her unique perspective as both a dancer and a biokineticist. She is especially intrigued by proprioception—the body’s ability to sense movement, action, and spatial positioning. Which she views as a crucial element of injury prevention and rehabilitation.
Functionality is a cornerstone of Annerien’s approach to biokinetics. Whether strengthening neurologically impaired muscles, aiding postnatal recovery, or improving mobility and performance following orthopaedic injuries or surgeries, she finds great fulfilment in helping people regain or enhance their physical capabilities. Annerien is driven by a desire to innovate within biokinetics and expand the profession’s scope. She is committed to introducing practices that not only improve patient care but also elevate the field as a whole.
Outside of work, Annerien enjoys staying active through gym workouts and continuing her dance acitivities in ballet, reflecting her commitment to health, movement, and personal well-being.
Annerien is inspired and motivated to grow while she continues her new adventure at Labarré Jansen van Vuuren Biokineticist.
Maddy’s bio
Maddy is the heart and soul of the practice. She is our practice manger and tends to the reception duties. Maddy always has a friendly face and a smile or joke to share.
Her experience includes leaving the Corporate World in November 2020, after being in the Health & Safety Industry. There she attended to the Key Accounts for more than 23 years. She decided to pursue her own business as Independent Consultant ever since. After moving to Pretoria in 2021 an opportunity arose to assist at our practice and she has never looked back.
From health and safety as a background to a more clinical setting. A totally different industry and terminology to what she was used to for many years. Luckily, Maddy is a fast learner and passionate about people and their quality of life. She shares our beliefs and the holistic approach to improving one’s health. Maddy experienced first hand how biokinetics can change your life and understands how and when exercise therapy can be implemented for success.
Traits very important to her: Having Passion, confidence, control, motivation, always learning and.. enjoying a good cup of coffee! She loves interacting with people, and getting to know each and everyone that comes into our practice.
What is the difference between a Biokineticist & Physiotherapist
We hear the same sort of question quite often. Patients are not sure whom to make a booking with when they have an injury or chronic condition.
So, here is some information we want you to know. We explain the main differences and some similarities between biokineticists and physiotherapists.
Biokinetics and physiotherapy are both recognised allied health professions. But their scope of practice is slightly different.
Biokineticists primarily treat patients using clinical exercise interventions as their main modality. There is also a strong focus on behavioural change and self-management concepts. Whereas, physiotherapists assess, diagnose, treat and manage. For both acute or chronic injuries, disabilities and pain by mostly using manual treatments.
In other words, biokineticists use exercises in a very specific manner to assist in your rehabilitation process. And physiotherapists use manual therapies such as dry needling, massage, lazer treatment, strapping and many more to treat the diagnosis. So, in essence, the same patient can see both professions. A biokineticist and a physiotherapist for the same injury or condition. They will treat however in different ways.
There are however many possibilities where the two professions can overlap. Because both professions work within a broad scope of practice, there is a lot of crossover. And this is where collaboration between biokineticists and physiotherapist are vital.
At the end of the day, we all have the same goal – to treat the patient to the best of our abilities for the best possible outcome!
Some unique aspects of Biokinetics
- Receive diagnosis and then deliver the rehabilitation prognosis. Do not diagnose injury or conditions.
- Assess and manage your injury or condition with exercise. Delivers instruction and education.
- Only use exercise in a clinical manner to rehabilitate and provide long-term management. Use a variety of exercises and is experienced in how to adapt / modify exercise to your unique needs.
- Work across preventative, sub-acute & chronic / final phases.
- Unique in preventative treatment – do you want to prevent injuries or health problems? We can assist!
- Providing long-term care and management to chronic health conditions. Such as cancer recovery, diabetes, respiratory conditions, mental health conditions, and cardiac-related conditions. Which, promotes improved health and wellness and decreases their risk of all-cause morbidity
- Works with you to consider the how and the why of your circumstances so that the cause can be addressed. Assists to prevent future recurrence
- Additionally, works with you to develop individually tailored exercise plans. Which will help you achieve your goals. Whether it is to lose or maintain a healthy weight, create a strength and conditioning program or to take your fitness to the next level
- After you have seen the physiotherapist, they refer you to a biokineticist to continue your rehabilitation process
Some unique aspects of Physiotherapy
- Able to deliver an injury diagnosis and prognosis.
- Treat and manage with manual therapy
- Deliver soft tissue mobilisation through massage, dry needling, ultrasound and many more. But also at times prescribe self-massage techniques and minimal rehabilitation exercises
- Work across all phases of injuries from acute, to sub-acute, to chronic
- The acute phase of an injury is associated with pain, swelling, bruising and restriction in movement and or function. Please book with a physiotherapist for assessment and initiation of intervention
