An Insight into Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation Courses

Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation is a growing career choice among those who want to spend their careers working in sports environments.

All of the elite sports teams across the globe are now employing sports therapists, physiotherapists and rehabilitation specialists of different kinds to offer the best possible support to their most valuable assets.

To become a sports therapist and gain employment in the industry, you have to earn a qualification such as Portobello Institute’s BSc (Hons) Sports Therapy degree.

Portobello’s course is a three-year, internationally awarded qualification that projects as a Level 8 degree in Ireland. It is valuable internationally and for those seeking employment opportunities in Ireland.

Holding a degree in Sports Therapy allows you to work full-time as a sports therapist but it also sets you up to branch out into different areas. You can apply for a master’s degree in physiotherapy, add a qualification in paediatrics or different forms of clinical treatment.

Many of our graduates go on to open their own private clinics or apply for physiotherapy masters.

So what do they actually learn before starting their careers?

Here is an insight into Portobello’s sports therapy course:

Foundational Skills of Sports Therapy

A qualified sports therapist is able to assess, treat and refer athletes for specialist advice and intervention when appropriate. Sports therapists are available at sporting events because they are trained to provide immediate care of injuries and basic life support should anything happen.

But they are not just emergency response practitioners. Sports therapists also understand how to plan and implement a unique rehabilitation programme for each athlete that they treat.

This course is designed to educate graduates on injury prevention and rehabilitation techniques.

During Year 1 of the course, students study a module called Foundations of Sports Therapy. It serves as an introduction to the theoretical and practical competencies of sports therapists. It also introduces students to first aid and the application of effective sports massage as well as the fundamentals of a clinical examination and assessment.

Specialized Modules

Over the three years of this degree, there are 15 modules that each student must complete. Students gradually develop from more introductory modules in Year 1 such as Human Physiology and Training Principles to modules such as Advanced Sports Therapy Techniques in Year 3.

Here are some examples of the modules students will undertake:

• Sports and Exercise Physiology

This module introduces students to the responses of tissues and organs to acute and chronic exercise training. Students are also familiarised with a variety of field and laboratory-based tests of physical performance to assess components of fitness and work capacity.

• Peripheral Manual Therapy

Students will gain the understanding, knowledge and expertise to apply safe and effective manual therapy to the peripheral joints by introducing the students to the concepts and current philosophies of manual therapy techniques. The application of manual therapy techniques is based on the clinical interpretation of case notes.

This module also develops the student’s ability to clinically interpret athlete information and formulate clinical decisions to develop a treatment program based on the knowledge of common sporting injuries, their mechanics and their sporting demands.

• Advanced Sports Therapy Techniques

This module allows students to integrate their knowledge gained throughout their degree and combines this with new skills and knowledge developed within their final year. It focuses on vertebral mobilisations as well as the theoretical and practical knowledge of electrotherapeutic modalities.

• Clinical Exercise Physiology

This module analyses the interactions between exercise and a variety of disease. It covers both general topics such as epidemiology and pathology, as well as specific conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and psychological disorders. The module gives students theoretical and practical experience of describing and understanding clinical conditions.

Need to Know More?

If you'd like to read more about the sports degrees and qualifications we carry, you can visit the department page here.

If you are interested in any of our sports courses or have any questions you can book a consultation call with our expert sports advisor Sharde Sebastian here, email sharde.sebastian@portobelloinstitute.com or call 01 892 0029. 

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Johanna Shaw has a 2:1 in BSc (Hons) in Sports and Exercise Science from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. She completed an MPhil Studentship in Physical Activity for Health alongside an Exercise Development role. She then went onto a Tackling Inactivity in Students role funded by Sport England within a Further Education College in London before moving back to Dublin to Portobello Institute.