University of Bedfordshire

BSc (Hons) in Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation

What will you study?

Studying our BASRaT-accredited (British Association of Sports Rehabilitators and Trainers) Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation BSc (Hons) course will equip you with the specialised knowledge and skills in the combined areas of sports rehabilitation, health and therapeutic treatment. Beginning with the basics, our unit in Normal Anatomical Structure and Function will introduce you to human anatomy and kinesiology. You will take an advanced approach to this in our Altered Anatomical Structure and Function unit where you will consider anatomical alterations caused by health and lifestyle factors. This is then explored in the context of sport science in our Anatomy and Biomechanics unit, which aims to introduce you to the principles of human movement, biomechanics and the role of anatomy in sport and exercise science.

This will be useful in areas of sports therapy & rehabilitation practice, it will also include possible pathways into strength and conditioning and personal training for both athletic and clinical populations. In addition to Anatomy, our Human Physiology unit will help you understand human physiological systems and how the human body adapts to exercise and injury recovery. This knowledge is built on in your second year, with the Physiology for Training unit where you will identify physiological factors that influence sport and exercise performance and how training methods can influence these. In more practical areas of learning, the course begins in year 1 with Gym Instruction where you will learn the fundamentals of exercise prescription and coaching in a gym setting, with a range of applied exercises. You will learn a range of exercises, progressing onto Clinical Exercise and Corrective Exercise in your final year that will allow you to safely and effectively design exercise programs and skills for sport rehabilitation.

You will learn fundamental manual therapy techniques, within the Sports Massage unit, that will provide you with the skills and knowledge to use a range of soft tissue techniques. Progressing to our Manual Therapies unit, will provide you with an understanding of how to safely apply a range of peripheral joint mobilisations and advanced manual therapy in practice, and at an advanced level, our Advanced Manual Therapies unit will involve techniques for accessory joint mobilisation and manipulations. Another important area of study includes rehabilitation and injury management, and this is where our units in the Management of Lower Extremity Injuries and Management of Upper Extremity Injuries will provide you with the skills and knowledge to ensure safe assessment skills for injured athletes, identify and manage causes of pain and discomfort. This is explored further in our Sport Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation unit where you will learn to evaluate dysfunction, injury and rehabilitation needs to reduce the risk of injury and to rehabilitate an athlete back to performance.

Finally, you will complete a Dissertation for Sport Science and Physical Activity where you will investigate a focused and relevant research topic of interest to you and work under the guidance of a supervisor. To help you with this, our unit in Reading and Interpreting Research will introduce you to the research process into the scientific literature. Similarly, our Planning and Conducting Research unit will allow you to take a critical understanding of research processes and enquiry in sports therapy & rehabilitation. To prepare you for your career, our unit in Structural Assessment and Professional Practice will support you in implementing your practical skills in a work-based environment with a reflective approach to practice. Similarly, our Professional Practice unit aims to prepare you for your placement experience in Sports Therapy & Rehabilitation, with a requirement of completing a minimum of 400 hours of supervised placement over the three years of study. Furthermore, you will be equipped with the business skills to successfully build a career as a Graduate Sport Rehabilitator in our Clinical Practice and Business unit. More importantly, you have the option to be able to undertake a Professional Practice Year (Sports Science and Physical Activity) as an opportunity to develop your employability skills and gain formally recognised work-based learning for a year.

How will you be assessed?

Lectures seek to provide students with underpinning theoretical research-informed knowledge to allow them to critically justify their clinically reasoned injury treatment and rehabilitation strategies.

Sports Rehabilitator graduates will be trained to take on a rewarding career in environments that diagnose, treat and rehabilitate injury and clinical conditions. Sport Rehabilitators will be capable of working within multi-disciplinary healthcare teams, both private and public (NHS). In addition, careers in Sport and clinics are also common areas of employment for graduates.

The course also embeds wider transferable skills and qualifications, including those to work pitch side or in the health and fitness industry (opportunities to gain exercise coaching qualifications for referred and non-referred clients). Finally, the skills and knowledge to start and run a business are developed, which many of our students go on to do, along with many of the aforementioned roles or continue with post-graduate study in Strength and Conditioning, Clinical Exercise Physiology or Physiotherapy.