"We explicitly chose not to communicate anything about this for a year and a half" - Dimitri Van den Bergh is finally pain-free again

Dimitri Van den Bergh begins tonight's Winmau World Masters. The 30-year-old Belgian will take on Gary Anderson in his opening match. If he wins, a match with Michael van Gerwen may follow.

Van den Bergh is looking forward to the new season with confidence. Especially after a year and a half of problems with a nasty wrist injury. "I may start this year without feeling any pain," Van den Bergh opens to Het Nieuwsblad. "We explicitly chose not to communicate anything about this for a year and a half. There were occasional questions about it, but I always deflected them."

"I want to be regarded as someone who always does his best, and there have been comments about that. Criticism is allowed from me, but in the end I know what was going on. Or rather, on the wrist. The pain is gone now, due to several things I have had done. From physical therapy and advice from a surgeon to "dry needling" and shockwave therapy. Everything was I could do was done."

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Moving

"In the summer of 2023, we had found a house and right after the World Matchplay, I moved in with them," Van den Bergh continued. "Helping put furniture together, carrying the washing machine upstairs ... It was a whole day's work, 'travakken' as they call it with us. The very last thing I had to do was put together a coffee table. We had to do that upside down, so with the top on the bottom. Okay, everything vise together and then turn the table over again. And there we didn't choose the smartest way, so I got the full weight of the table on my right hand."

"I couldn't recover the table fast enough with my left and then everything went out of balance, which my right hand couldn't handle and which caused a snap in my right wrist. I then spent a week not being able to throw my arrow further the board my foot is against, because of course it was about my throwing hand. I tried to make the move, but so much pain went through my hand that it cramped up and I dropped my arrow to the ground in front of my feet."

Dimitri Van den Bergh in action

Cyste

"Feel your right wrist and you'll notice that there are two bones there. One on the bottom left and one on the top right, which sticks out a little bit like a bump in most people. Funnily enough, in my case a cyst had developed from making that wrong move and tearing a ligament. Then fluid started to accumulate, in a joint where there's particularly little space. And so that cyst has started to push. For most people, that would have caused a burning sensation when - it sounds funny but it's the truth - wiping their rear end after a big message, but for me as a darter because of my throwing motion. I then lay around for months working on myself without knowing exactly where the pain was coming from. Until I went to a surgical specialist for an MRI in October after missing the European Championship - the first time I ever had more than a week off."

After that appointment with the specialist, a lot became clear to Van den Bergh. "That man immediately understood what was wrong, so he told me about that cyst. He then treated me, but not with surgery. That would have taken me three months and I don't have that time as a professional dart player. Certainly not at that time. I could have possibly missed the Grand Slam of Darts and the Players Championship Finals, but I also knew that in that case I wouldn't be allowed to compete in the World Cup. That just wasn't an option, even if the cyst would have been completely removed immediately."

"We then started looking for alternatives, which resulted in putting a syringe locally. This popped the bubble of the cyst and then I was given cortisone. After a week of flat rest, it was much better and I started training for the World Cup. There everyone saw that it did go better than the months before. Not yet as it should be, but better. And I will take that mindset with me into the new season."

Sport psychologist

Van den Bergh also got a lot of help from his sports psychologist during that period. "He said it was great that I kept pushing despite that injury and knowing that I just wasn't 100 percent. But also that I couldn't expect to perform 100 percent then either. And I had to agree with him on that in the long run. I just couldn't quite show what I could do, as frustrating as that was. So then we went back to the mental idea of imagining myself that, until the problem was solved, I was just going to 'have a good game of darts.'"

"That was a huge step forward for me, trying to find that relaxation in effort. I was giving 100 percent without being 100 percent and that was so hard mentally, plus the physical pain I felt every time. At the World Grand Prix (where he made it to the semifinals anyway) I experienced a low point on that front. Then I let my manager know that I urgently needed to get treatment because it was getting too much and too bad. And that's what we then did, with success."

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