Can I Study Physiotherapy After Studying a BSc in Sport & Exercise Science?

Going down the route of a degree in Sport & Exercise Science can be an enticing prospect for multiple reasons. Firstly, sports scientists are some of the most highly sought-after sports professionals in the industry, with the best in class commanding high salaries to work with elite athletes.

However, one other reason that doing a degree in Sport & Exercise Science can be beneficial is the level of transferability that the skills you learn within the degree have. While the path to becoming a sports scientist is the most common that is available to you when doing a degree such as Sport & Exercise Science, it is certainly not the only one.

Many degrees of this kind will contain modules that touch on other disciplines of professional sport such as sports psychology, performance analysis, PE Teaching, strength and conditioning, and physiotherapy.

A lot of this is down to the fact that professional sports teams and organisations now require their coaches to be a jack of all trades, with at the very least a foundational knowledge of the sporting disciplines that weren’t the main focus of their undergraduate or higher education degree.

Portobello Institute recently shares insights from John Noonan, a performance coach who is working in motorsport across Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 4, and Formula E. During the interview, John spoke about the necessity to have experience across multiple disciplines.

“If we think about the primary role and competencies of a coach, generally speaking, you have to be a bit of a specialist in a number of areas.

“From physical preparation to biomechanics to nutrition to performance psychology. You don’t tend to develop those qualities in one or two disciplines of sport.

“Coming from a background of sports science and strength and conditioning myself, I knew that longer-term, if I wanted to offer more value to clients, not just in motorsport, I’d need to broaden my competencies and range of skills. Therefore, physical therapy became a big interest of mine in the last decade.

“I’ve now been coaching for over 20 years, and I’d say over the last five years, I’ve moved deeper into performance psychology and that's with the benefit of working with some world-class experts that we have in that space.

“You’re constantly evolving and refining your practice and what you can offer an organisation or client. Where the sports industry requires an ever-evolving standard of practice, you need to always be adding to the standard of your credentials,” he said.

So in essence, yes you can go on to study for a Master’s in Physiotherapy after doing a degree in Sport and Exercise Science. Graduates with degrees in Sport & Exercise Science can and do go on to do further qualifications such as a Master’s in Physiotherapy, adding to their experience and sending them on the path to an extremely rewarding and lucrative career.

So why not follow your passion, fulfil your potential and find the course for the career you want? 

Get in Contact  

If you are interested in pursuing a BSc (Hons) in Sport and Exercise Science you can book a consultation call with our expert advisor Hannah Meade, email hannah.meade@portobelloinstitute.com or call 01 892 0029.