Motion and its related evidence-based metrics are vital in providing our clients the best possible care. As soft-tissue therapists, motion is at the core of what we do.
—Willem Kramer
ANATOMY BY PLANES - AN ANATOMY ATLAS FOR SOFT-TISSUE THERAPISTS
Acknowledgements
Sr Manager Data & Analytics Strategy & Consulting
Multinationals, the Netherlands
Hans J. de Bos
HAN University
Nijmegen, the Netherlands
Henrike C.W. Padmos
Center for Language and Cognition
Groningen University, the Netherlands
Flip Kramer
Sounding board
Groningen, the Netherlands
Camiel van Druten, CEO, PT
Veel Beter
Almere, the Netherlands
Joost Hazes, CEO
Olympic Gym Amsterdam
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Brandywine Financial
Kennett Square, PA USA
Nate Shaw, ATC, CSCS, RSCC*E
Strength & Conditioning Coordinator
MLB Arizona Diamondbacks
Ken Crenshaw
Director of Sports Medicine & Performance
MLB Arizona Diamondbacks
Rik Tacken, CRO, DO, MSPT, PT
Veel Beter
Almere, the Netherlands
Evyn McCoy, BMdS, DPT (Class of 2025)
St. Ambrose University
Davenport, IA USA
ANATOMY BY PLANES - AN ANATOMY ATLAS FOR SOFT-TISSUE THERAPISTS
Foreword
It is a worthy challenge to put in the written word what Willem has meant to me, my life, and by virtue my closest loved ones. This atlas is one manifestation of a career, up to this point, of a man dedicated to helping others, in the purest sense of the term. And if I have absorbed anything from Willem, it’s that this is no lifeless tome, nor a magnum opus to a singular career; rather, it is a living, breathing guide to be used in the service of helping yourself and others.
I first encountered Willem after my rookie year in the NFL on a trip to Morgantown, West Virginia, to see my parents who were living there at the time. Towards the end of that season, as is common in all football experiences, I had picked up various ailments and strains. One in particular was causing me fits. Rest and recuperation had not helped the healing process, and my mom suggested I get a massage from the husband of the new West Virginia University women’s volleyball coach. I found myself at Willem and Jill’s house the next day laying on the fanciest treatment table I’d ever encountered, with signed AC Milan and Arizona Diamondback jerseys looking down on me, wondering who this odd and very well-dressed Dutch man in West Virginia was? Willem proceeded to work his magic, test his work, and by the end of the hour I had multiple moments of pain-free movement. Yes, the pain returned, but I believed I could get better. Belief is a most powerful currency, and Willem helped provide that to me from the very first session and on through a friendship that has outlasted my professional football career and our player/therapist relationship.
Working with Willem has been a journey of discovery, and not just through the rehab of an injury, but most importantly self-discovery through the collaborative process of improvement and the pursuit of excellence. I am fortunate to have counted him as both a resource and a friend through my professional playing career and now beyond. His positive affect on my life cannot be overstated, and I’m thrilled that he is sharing his passion and knowledge of human bodies and connectedness in this work.
Bon Voyage,
Andrew Luck
August 1, 2025
Former NFL Quarterback
ANATOMY BY PLANES - AN ANATOMY ATLAS FOR SOFT-TISSUE THERAPISTS
Preface
Writing means sharing. It’s part of the human condition to want to share things - thoughts, ideas, opinions.
I’d love to tell you I wrote this atlas to share. But I can’t. I’d be lying. The truth is, I made it for myself. Despite my human condition, I did not plan to share.
Who am I? I am Willem, a US-licensed massage therapist. Over the past thirty years, I have worked with MLB, NBA, and NFL players, footballers from top European leagues, ATP players, Olympic athletes, IFBB bodybuilders, college and high school athletes, entertainers, executives, and many others from around the world. I do not advertise myself or my work, with one exception, at a client’s request, and I only help people referred to me by clients, friends, or family. I am called upon when time is of the essence or a solution seems difficult to find.
I graduated from a Dutch physiotherapy school in July of 1996. Soon after, I partnered in opening a Sports Medical Center near Amsterdam. I saw clients in my clinic or treated them on location. I traveled to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and other countries for work. My treatment results back then were good enough, but I kept pushing to do better.
I learned that pain, although born from unique circumstances and individual as a feeling, has a generic and often simple solution. Armed with this knowledge, I developed a faster, easy-to-duplicate way to resolve it. My way. In 2001, I started teaching and franchising “my way.” For over a decade, physiotherapists paid me to learn what I had come up with.
In 2002, I moved to the United States. Because my Dutch physiotherapy qualifications did not transfer, I got a massage therapy license instead. I worked the 2007 season with the Arizona Diamondbacks and spent the following five years building a massive relational anatomy database. By the end of 2014, I sold my stake in my Netherlands-based Sports Medical Center and stopped teaching. In 2022, I received a US patent for a three-axes heel raise apparatus.
As for “my way?” It’s a soft tissue therapy that combines and continuously alternates manual soft tissue treatment and exercises. I use it to resolve pain complaints of the movement apparatus. The motions that hurt and the relationships between the motions-involved skin, muscles, joints, and their therapeutic variables determine what and how I treat and exercise.
This atlas shows these relationships in pictures. It shows skin, muscles, and joints related through and grouped by motion. It is the sum of almost thirty years of work and the most recent step in a progression from questioning everything (myself mostly), thousands of treatment sessions, reading many books and research papers, developing a “one size fits most” solution to musculoskeletal pain, teaching and franchising my solution, building a relational anatomy database, to coming up with a better heel raise.
As I mentioned earlier, I made this atlas for myself. Although I didn’t plan on sharing, I had a change of heart; I could not outrun the human condition that Paulo Coelho mentioned. Anyhoo …, maybe you get some use out of it, also.
Willem Kramer
Fort Worth, TX
November 2024
Author
Willem is a Netherlands-educated physiotherapist and a US-licensed massage therapist with over thirty years of experience working with professional athletes, entertainers, and executives. He presents a unique approach that questions the reliance on dissection anatomy in the education of soft-tissue therapists. Willem advocates for a holistic understanding of the body, emphasizing that all organ systems are interconnected and interdependent. His insights offer both practitioners and enthusiasts a fresh perspective on musculoskeletal health.
