BSc (Hons) Sports Therapy

Investigating Sport, Exercise and Coaching

This module will provide you with the research skills necessary to support your learning within sport and exercise. It will introduce you to the philosophies that underpin different types of research, and you will learn basic techniques of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis.

Anatomy and Physiology

This module introduces you to the fundamental concepts of anatomy and human physiology, focusing on their application to human movement and performance in sport and physical activity.

You will explore the structure and function of key body systems, including the musculoskeletal, neurological, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems, and understand how they influence physical performance.

Specific attention is given to energy metabolism, examining how the body utilises energy during exercise across different intensities. This module also covers qualitative movement analysis and data collection for evaluating performance.

Practical sessions will allow you to apply anatomical and physiological concepts in real-world contexts, enhancing your understanding of how these systems interact during physical activity.

Developing Physical Fitness

In this module, you will develop skills in health screening, needs analysis, and goal setting for diverse clients and athletes by integrating principles from gym instruction, personal training, and sports performance coaching.

Key topics include anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, and nutrition, alongside behaviour change techniques, injury prevention, and professional ethics. Additionally, the module explores business and marketing strategies for personal trainers.

You will gain practical experience in conducting health and fitness assessments, interpreting data to refine training programmes, and have the opportunity to obtain Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA) qualifications, meeting professional standards for gym instructor and personal trainer roles.

Professional Skills

The Professional Skills module is designed to support your transition to university study and help you develop key academic, personal and professional skills in your area of study.

Throughout the module, you will enhance your communication skills, digital literacy and academic skills to ensure you have the tools to succeed at university and beyond. Emphasis will be placed on developing skills relevant to your future career, including interpersonal skills, problem-solving and self-reflection.

The module includes the creation of a portfolio to track your progress, demonstrating how you’ve developed skills that are transferrable to your graduate career.

Acute Injury, Trauma and Pathology

This module introduces the role of the Sports Therapist in the identification and management of acute sporting injury. It will provide you with the knowledge and skills to detect, identify and manage acute sporting injury from serious life-threatening injury to common soft tissue sporting injury.

The core focus is the integration of normal physiological processes with common pathological conditions that may affect these tissues. You will explore the body’s responses to these pathologies and their relevance to clinical practice in sports therapy.

MSK Examination and Assessment

This module provides you with a comprehensive understanding of the examination and assessment of upper and lower limb peripheral joints in sports therapy. You will also learn about the anatomy, physiology, and biomechanics of major peripheral joints. Through practical workshops and theoretical learning, you will become confident in conducting thorough joint examinations.

The module also covers the assessment and diagnosis of common joint injuries, including sprains, strains, fractures, dislocations, and chronic conditions such as tendinopathies and arthritis. Upon completion, you will be able to provide effective assessment of musculoskeletal injuries in both clinical and sports environments.

Rehabilitation: Return to Function

This module will provide you with the theoretical knowledge, understanding, and practical abilities to plan and implement safe and effective, progressive rehabilitation programmes that are both injury and functional specific, and address the individual needs of the patient.

Sports Injury Management 2

This module provides you with a safe and effective assessment and management of soft tissue and sport-related injuries. The module also aims to enable you to understand the gross structure and function of the upper body and the typical pathological responses of the body. It also aims to equip you with signs and symptoms of clinical pathology and the mechanisms of injury aetiology.

Neuromusculoskeletal Manual Therapy to the Spine

This module provides you with the knowledge, understanding and ability to provide the safe and effective assessment and management for the cervical, thoracic, lumbar vertebrae. It will give you the ability to apply comprehensive neurogenic, arthogenic and myogenic examination, assessment and treatment techniques appropriate to the above regions.

Rehabilitation: Return to Completion

This module will allow you to consolidate your theoretical knowledge and develop your practical ability to lead rehabilitation sessions in a group setting that are injury-specific and applicable in both the sport and occupational setting. You will learn to plan, implement and evaluate safe and effective group rehabilitation programmes that are appropriate to the needs of the patient’s transition during the phases of late-stage rehabilitation, to return to competition/occupation.

Clinical Biomechanics

This module aims to build upon the core biomechanical principles underpinning the practical analysis of human movement. It will also consider the role of biomechanical analysis in sports therapy and the assessment of patients. It will serve to widen your knowledge base and show the integrative nature of the separate disciplines of therapy and biomechanics.

Researching Sport, Exercise and Health

The module will provide you with practical skills of conducting research in the sport, exercise and health environment, and you will further your research skills, including ethical considerations, research design and methodology, analysis and write-up.

Clinical Placement (Sports Therapy)

Students are expected to undertake a placement or placements, which in total would constitute a minimum of 200 hours experience that enables them to develop, apply and reflect on their clinical practice across the core areas of sports therapy practice. The indicative content will ultimately vary upon the nature of the clinical placement. The student will be expected to take responsibility for a patient caseload; examining, assessing, treating and managing athletes under the supervision of a specialist clinical mentor.

Dissertation

You are encouraged to identify a research question appropriate to your degree pathway that is of interest and relevance to your studies. The investigation may be based within single or multiple disciplines. An appropriate approach to addressing the question is then determined through discussion with tutors in your chosen area.

Advanced Neuromusculoskeletal Manual Therapy

This module aims to provide you with the expertise to apply safe and effective manual therapy and mobilisation techniques to the peripheral joints of the body. It will give you the ability to apply a comprehensive range of manual therapy techniques appropriate to a wide range of presenting problems in the peripheral joints and aims to develop a more clinically reasoned approach in your management.

Psychology Of Injury And Rehabilitation

This module enables you to critically evaluate the psychological, social and cultural factors in injury risk, theories of psychological responses to injury, recovery and adherence to rehabilitation programmes. It will critically evaluate theory and research, and consider practical approaches to working with injured athletes to assist them with their response to and rehabilitation from injury experiences.

Therapeutic And Clinical Electrotherapy

This module provides you with the theoretical knowledge and practical expertise to apply Ultrasound, TENS, Interferential and LASER safely and effectively. It will equip you with the clinical reasoning regarding the implementation of these modalities. It will also investigate the research regarding the usage of these modalities.

Advanced Sports Trauma And Injury Management

An opportunity for you to consolidate your knowledge and further develop existing skills. The module aims to challenge current concepts in sports therapy practice, further develop a clinically reasoned approach in differential diagnosis and management of more complex and multifactorial presentations. This module prepares you for the complexities and realisms of clinical practice in all settings.

Nutrition for Sport Performance, Physical Development and Health

This module aims to examine the ways in which dietary intake influences energy metabolism, recovery of skeletal muscle after exercise, exercise performance and training adaptations. Strategies to manipulate the dietary intake of energy, macro- and micro- nutrients through food choices and supplements will be examined in terms of their role of optimisation of training adaptations and sporting performance. An important component of the module will be the practical application of nutritional theory to the sporting arena.