We caught up with Dr Bob Hogg, Senior Lecturer in Biomechanics and Performance Analysis at the University of Sunderland, to find out more about the new BSc (Hons) Sport and Rehabilitation Therapy course.
“The course has been designed to be highly vocational from the outset.”
The current situation in professional sports such as football and cricket, with regard to protecting support staff and players from Covid-19, has highlighted the role of therapists and trainers as they have become increasingly noticeable delivering treatments both on and off the field in their personal protective equipment (PPE).
These are just some of the many possible roles available to graduate sport and rehabilitation therapists, who often work alongside physiotherapists and coaches in sporting contexts and also with occupational therapists in helping none-sporting people return to their day-to-day lives.
"The course has been designed to be highly vocational from the outset” says Senior Lecturer in Biomechanics and Performance Analysis, Dr Bob Hogg. “We have paired our sport and physiotherapy modules with highly-vocational areas such as sports massage and taping, giving our students the broadest opportunities to gain employment and develop their career in a number of different directions”.
As well as graduating with a BSc (Hons) in Sport and Rehabilitation Therapy, accredited by the British Association of Sport Rehabilitators and Trainers (BASRaT), students will also be able to gain additional qualifications (through additional assessments at various points throughout the course) in a number of related skills. This will not only allow them to set up their own businesses when they graduate, but also to be qualified and insured to deliver supervised treatments during their 400 hours of placement, which is an integral part of the course.
"I’m keen to ensure that students engage with their placement and are useful to their placement provider, rather than just being there to observe. This will not only make them attractive to placement providers, but will also allow them to gain valuable customer-focussed experience.”
“Physiotherapists have a wider range of training and specialisms beyond musculoskeletal, including respiratory and neurological physiotherapy, but for long-term treatments they can find it useful to hand over to a specialist who not only has the skills to treat the injury, but also has the time, knowledge and experience to develop a complete and highly-contextualised holistic rehabilitation programme.” Being specialists in the musculoskeletal field, students completing this course will have access to a wide range of specialist equipment from both the health and sports areas."
"As well as drawing on expertise from our excellent physiotherapy team, we can also draw on expertise from our sports scientists in areas such as biomechanics, physiology, psychology and injury rehabilitation. This will allow students to gain experience in working with state-of-the-art 3D motion-capture equipment such as our Vicon and XSENS suit, gain access to our environmental chamber which can simulate heat humidity and altitude, and also work with highly-specialised rehabilitation equipment.”
As well as being attractive to employers, graduates from this course are given every opportunity and support to allow them to develop their own business. As well as being able to take a range of additional vocational modules, students can opt to develop a business plan as an alternative to a final-year project, and will be able to implement their plans with the help of the Enterprise Place.
"As a University we are acutely aware that we not only have to provide our students with an education but also give them a range of work-related life skills that make their investment in their future worthwhile. This was at the forefront of my mind when designing the course, especially as I have a daughter who is beginning her journey into the world of work and I am aware of the challenges ahead.”
Find out more about our sport courses and meet the rest of the Sport and Exercise Sciences academic team.
Published: 12 August 2020