Dr. Viviers hails from South Africa where she earned Physiotherapy and Sports Specialization degrees and ran a successful multidisciplinary clinic for two decades managing local and international athletes of all ages. Since relocating to the U.S. in 2019, she has earned a Transitional Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree and a board-certification in Geriatric Physical Therapy. She has also lectured in several DPT programs across the U.S. To her, teaching is ‘Salf vir die siel’, a South-Africanism which translates as ‘balm for the soul’. 

Dr. Viviers’ specialty is older athlete management, which she transitioned into when her South African athletes insisted that she figure out how to keep them at the top of their game as they aged. She has presented extensively on this specialty to clinicians, students, and lay people alike. A long-term collaboration with Dr. Becca Jordre, a Professor of Physical Therapy at the University of South Dakota, facilitated the modification and subsequent publication of the Sustained Athlete Fitness Exam (SAFE) in 2025. The SAFE is a novel. non-proprietary tool originally developed by Dr. Jordre, which has been used to quantify physical fitness in athletes competing in the past 8 National Senior Games Association competitions between 2011-2025. Drs. Viviers and Jordre co-coordinated the SAFE at the past 3 competitions, supervising upwards of 900 physical therapy volunteers in testing and providing much-needed education to 2,433 older athletes. As a PhD in Exercise Science Candidate at the University of Cape Town, Dr. Viviers continues to research factors moderating injury risk and athletic performance in older athletes. She aspires to empower older athletes worldwide in self-management, and to equip clinicians with the knowledge needed to effectively keep them playing well into their 90’s and beyond. 

PT, North Carolina, United States, P19646, Active, 2020, January 2026, 1902490881

PT, Massachusetts, United States, 24166, Inactive, 2019, January 2021

PT, NA/Non-US, South Africa, PT 0069655, Active, 1999, April 2026

American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties, Board-Certified Clinical Specialist, Physical Therapy, Geriatric Physical Therapy, GE210084, 2021-07-01, 2031-06-30

American Physical Therapy Association, Credentialed Clinical Instructor - Level 1, Physical Therapy, Clinical Physical Therapy, N/A, 2021-07-05, 2028-12-31, Yes

Health Professions Council of South Africa, Board-Certified Clinical Specialist, Physiotherapy, Sports Physiotherapy, N/A, 2009-06-30, 2028-12-31, Yes

TEFL/TESOL Master Certification: Teaching English as a Foreign Language, November 2020, Accrediting Council for Continuing Education & Training, Colorado, United States, 00170420, 120-Hour Master Certification

BridgeTEFL Course in English Grammar, October 2020, Accrediting Council for Continuing Education & Training, Colorado, United States, 32679, 40-Hour Certificate

Summer 2020 - Ongoing

American Physical Therapy Association, July 2022

American Physical Therapy Association, Academy of Geriatric Physical Therapy, July 2020

American Physical Therapy Association, Academy of Sports Physical Therapy, July 2020

American Physical Therapy Association, Academy of Education, July 2020

Summer 2025 - Ongoing

American Physical Therapy Association, Academy of Research Physical Therapy, July 2025

Spring 2020 - Ongoing

American Physical Therapy Association, North Carolina Chapter, July 2020

Spring 2024 - Ongoing

American Council of Academic Physical Therapy, March 2024