THE STORY OF FYZIO KLINIK

THE FYZIO KLINIK STORY BEGAN ON 23 JUNE 2011

At the beginning there were two of them with a big dream — to start their own business.
He, a qualified and certified physiotherapist with a great desire and natural talent to do physiotherapy differently than just visiting clients with a massage table in the evenings alongside his studies.
She, his girlfriend, a graduate in mass-media marketing with a wish to support and promote everything in life that is right and meaningful.
Tomáš Malárik and Nina Hajdu.

THEY STARTED FROM ZERO AND ALONE

Both had been passionate athletes and cyclists from a young age — Tomáš even competed at the top level. They were aware that any sport or physical activity also requires thorough relaxation, the right compensatory exercises, massages and sophisticated rehabilitation — in short, the right “maintenance” of the body.

As sometimes happens in life, chance intervened in their dreams of working together. In a building on Karpatská Street in Bratislava they had the opportunity to take over the orthopaedic clinic of the late Dr. Ivan Horský, an orthopaedist. Tomáš’s dream of founding his own rehabilitation facility began to take clear shape. Their first orthopaedist was Dr. Peter Erdelský, with whom they “hit it off” in every respect. They are still best friends to this day.

And as often happens in life, the beginnings were not easy. Sometimes they waited days for their first client. They did everything just the two of them — from cleaner to receptionist, from physiotherapist to maintenance worker. Within a year, however, they managed to build a small team of physiotherapists, and clients began to come. The very first one was Mr Milan Polák, who still visits the clinic today. As much as 90 percent of current clients came to the clinic based on his references, which he was happy to share in his circle. As they say, “good news travels fast” — and for the moment let’s forget that bad news travels even faster.

CHANCE STRUCK AGAIN

After some time, Dr. Erdelský travelled to Switzerland, where he accepted a position as an orthopaedist and rehabilitation doctor in the spa town of Leukerbad, in a specialised clinic for the treatment of the musculoskeletal system, one of the best in Switzerland. And although Tomáš had studied physiotherapy at the Secondary Medical School and subsequently at the Slovak Medical University, he began to visit Dr. Erdelský intensively in Switzerland, and this opened up new opportunities for him to learn Western thinking in physiotherapy.

From this moment on, he began to seek out and approach mainly foreign lecturers, whom he travelled to with one single goal — to “absorb” knowledge and skills. He completed many courses and trainings in physiotherapy, and his enthusiasm and desire to move further were so intense that he assisted many lecturers and trainers in his free time for free, simply so that he could gain practice. And it was during this period, after previous experience with rehabilitation in Slovakia, that Tomáš decided it was time to start building an innovative rehabilitation facility inspired by clinics abroad.

So they set their first and bold goal — to have the best clinic for treating the musculoskeletal system in Slovakia.

Together with Nina they developed their own original philosophy of physiotherapy, built on six pillars, which they have consistently applied in practice to this day.

You can read about the 6 pillars of the FYZIO KLINIK philosophy and more about us HERE.

THE PIVOTAL YEAR 2017

After six years on Karpatská Street, they had exhausted all possibilities for expanding the clinic, and so their next big dream was to move to larger premises. They searched for over a year. Chance worked again and they received an offer to rent premises directly from a Strabag client whom Tomáš was rehabilitating at the time. It was the original administrative building of the Strabag company on Mlynské Nivy. However, moving a fully utilised 600 square metres of clinic into premises three times the size was not easy at all. It was necessary to develop logistics and think through the management of the relocation down to the last detail. They managed it together with their employees during operation in one weekend — literally from Friday to Monday. Many clients did not even notice and came on Monday morning for therapy at the old clinic address.

With the arrival at the new premises, they could finally build everything they still dreamed of in one building under one roof. They set up almost all the services needed for the comprehensive treatment of patients, such as the orthopaedic and neurology clinic, physiotherapy for children aged 3–6, psychotherapy, a specialised centre for the treatment of the spine called SPINAL CENTRE, physiotherapy in gynaecology and various other specialised examinations. Clients can also use the fitness centre and group exercises, aimed specifically at individual problem areas of the body.

EDUCATION IS A PRIORITY

The fact that they have become number one in education and expertise in Slovakia is also evidenced by the fact that their therapists cover all the methodologies for treating the musculoskeletal system that are known not only in Slovakia but also in the Czech Republic. Moreover, their team includes several certified chiropractors and osteopaths, and FYZIO KLINIK is the only certified training centre for chiropractic practice for the Dr. Ackermann Institute of Sweden.

Physiotherapy abroad is advancing at a tremendous pace. At FYZIO KLINIK they know they have to “keep up with the times”. The only solution is therefore to keep moving forward. They see room for this above all in permanent and thorough education — and not only for their physiotherapists.

Both Nina and Tomáš already have a long road behind them. The love for their craft has still not left them, and you can literally feel its presence at the clinic. As they themselves say, it is their first child, which has already turned 12 — a child that has its own head, knows what it wants, has the ability to absorb and grow incredibly quickly, and every one of its decisions also carries emotions.

They are well aware that if they want this child of theirs to be a wise, responsible and purposeful individual, they still have a beautiful, but also long, road ahead of them. And they are looking forward to this very much. Both of them equally.

Listen to the podcast with Nina and Tomáš on START IT UP: They started as two without clients — now they have 10,000.

Listen to the podcast with Tomáš for the Fitshaker podcast, in which, among other things, you will learn how physiotherapy has been changing and developing over recent years.