What Careers are Available with a Clinical Exercise Prescription Qualification?

Back in 2016, the World Health Organization published the European Physical Activity for Health Strategy. The strategy focuses on physical activity as a leading factor in health and well-being in the European Region. It pays particular attention to noncommunicable diseases associated with insufficient activity levels and sedentary behaviour.

The purpose of that strategy was to inspire governments and stakeholders to work towards increasing levels of physical activity among all citizens.

Ireland followed suit at the same time, launching its first National Physical Activity Plan to go along with its new National Exercise Referral Framework.

It’s clear that there is a national and international effort to move towards exercise as a clinically prescribed treatment for patients. But governments don’t typically move quickly. Throw in the Covid-19 pandemic and the progress towards greater levels of exercise have stalled. Five years on, jobs for Clinical Exercise Prescription graduates are not yet widespread.

Benefits of a Degree in Clinical Exercise Prescription

Attaining a degree in Clinical Exercise Prescription is about setting yourself up for the developments that are coming. You can anticipate the needs of employers in the future and offer the diverse skill set that they will be searching for.

Some organisations have already begun seeking out Clinical Exercise Prescription graduates. More will follow.

ExWell Medical is a Chronic Illness Exercise Rehabilitation clinic that was founded by Dr Noel McCaffrey.

As Dr McCaffrey puts it, “The rationale behind Exwell Medical is that a large proportion of the disability and unwellness that comes with any long-term illness is caused by becoming deconditioned. At ExWell, we can improve or reverse this with appropriate exercise, thereby greatly enhancing a person’s quality of life.”

ExWell is a not-for-profit organisation that supports over 600 patients per week and is entering an expansion period to create sites across Ireland.

Siobhan O’Reilly found The O’Reilly Centre after experiencing breast cancer at age 36. The O’Reilly Centre is a physiotherapy clinic that specialises in Manual Therapy and Education for Lymphoedema, Cancer Rehabilitation and Sports.

They are based in Donegal and offer services in Dublin also. Siobhan’s clinic emphasises spending extended time with patients and offering a high degree of varied skills to address particular issues and ambitions.

Her approach incorporating Clinical Exercise Prescription leads to whole body improvement.

There will be opportunities for graduates to work as part of multidisciplinary health care teams in public, private or charitable sectors. As outlined by the Irish Heart Foundation, cardiac rehabilitation is a programme that can return patients to a full, active and healthy life. This programme begins in the hospital and continues once the patient has returned home.

Hospitals offer rehabilitation services that will also require Clinical Exercise Prescription graduates.

Portobello Institute’s Level 9 MSc Clinical Exercise Prescription degree will have its first intake of students this October. This course’s duration is three academic semesters and will be delivered by the Head of the Sports Department Dr Susan Giblin.

Clinical Exercise Prescription Modules:

• Applied Clinical Exercise Physiology
• Clinical Exercise Prescription for Cardiorespiratory Populations
• Clinical Exercise Prescription across the Lifespan (Paediatrics, Geriatrics and Pregnancy)
• Clinical Exercise Prescription for Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation
• Clinical Exercise Prescription for Special Populations (Oncology, Endocrinology and Neurology)
• Psychosocial Factors in Clinical Exercise Prescription
• Research Methods in Clinical Exercise
• Dissertation in Clinical Exercise Prescription

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. 

Featured in this article:
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.