RealHealth is a specialised two-week pain management programme developed in the Netherlands for people with persistent back and neck pain. Scientifically grounded and delivered in partnership with the Sint Maartenskliniek since 2006
RealHealth is exploring international partnerships with healthcare providers and organisations who want to make this programme available to patients beyond the Netherlands. We'd be glad to discuss how collaboration could work.
It is evidence-based and specifically developed for patients who have already tried multiple treatments without lasting relief. The programme teaches participants how to function better and regain quality of life, despite their pain.
Please note: RealHealth is currently offered in the Netherlands, in Dutch. This website is intended for international healthcare providers and organisations interested in the programme.
"We see a great many people who have been to numerous doctors and been told there is little that can be done about their pain. Often, we as surgeons have nothing more to offer surgically either. In those cases, it's reassuring to know that we can still offer these people - in what feels like a hopeless situation - a programme with genuine prospect of a better life."
Robert Jan Kroeze, MD, PhD - Orthopaedic Spine Surgeon
For many patients, back or neck pain dominates daily life - present on waking, limiting work and home activities, and disrupting sleep. By the time they reach RealHealth, most have already tried physiotherapy, medication, and sometimes surgery, without lasting results. Persistent spinal pain is one of the most common and costly health conditions worldwide, and conventional treatments often fall short for this group.
RealHealth offers a fundamentally different approach to persistent back and neck pain. Rather than focusing on pain reduction, the programme helps patients learn to function better despite their pain. In this specialised spine-focused programme, participants work on restoring physical and mental balance, so that pain becomes less dominant in daily life.
We conduct ongoing scientific research to monitor the outcomes and quality of the RealHealth programme. Since 2006, RealHealth has been offered in collaboration with the Sint Maartenskliniek - a centre of expertise internationally recognised for spinal care. Evidence-based programme.
It's a fair question - and one we continuously answer with data. Every participant completes questionnaires at four points in time, covering physical functioning, pain experience, mood and overall health. This allows us to monitor the programme's effectiveness and keep improving it. After completing the programme, participants consistently show:
Better daily functioning, despite their pain
Higher quality of life
Reduced healthcare utilisation
Lower use of pain medication
These outcomes hold even for patients for whom previous treatments or surgery did not provide lasting relief.
Explore the results
The ‘Global Spine Congress 2026’ is has taken place in May 2026 in Istanbul, Turkey. This is the world’s largest congress, bringing together 2,500 spi...
Read more
Not every pain becomes chronic. Why does back and neck pain so often do? Discover what is really meant when people say that pain is in the brain.
Read more
In this article on chronic back pain, you can read more about how long-term back problems develop and what multidisciplinary care can offer.
Read more
In this article you'll read about what can play a role in chronic neck pain, how it develops and how to learn to cope with it.
Read more
Many adults live with scoliosis and chronic back pain. Surgery often seems like the only option, but that's not always the case.
Read more
Doing too much on good days and too little on bad days? Read how the balance between load and load capacity works with chronic pain.
Read more
In this article you'll read what pain medication does in the short and long term, and we provide a number of guidelines to consider when thinking abou...
Read more
A study in adults with scoliosis and chronic low back pain, exploring outcomes of the programme as an alternative to surgery in selected cases.
Read more
Previous studies showed that the RealHealth programme was still effective after 1 and 2 years. But do these results persist in the long term? This stu...
Read more
This study sought to determine: for whom does the RealHealth intensive treatment programme work best? If you can predict in advance who is most likely...
Read more
This study examined the long-term effects of the intensive 2-week RealHealth pain management programme, 2 years after completion.
Read more
This study examined people with chronic low back pain who followed an intensive treatment programme that focuses on functioning better with pain (base...
Read more