This full-time postgraduate programme for qualified chiropractors, sports therapists, physiotherapists and medical practitioners is a two-year pre-qualifying course designed to give these practitioners the opportunity to achieve the required competence profile for autonomous osteopathic practice.

Whilst enabling these practitioners to develop the required clinical competence profile for registration with the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC), the course aims to produce clinicians who have the knowledge and skills to integrate osteopathy with their existing healthcare practice in sports therapy, chiropractic, physiotherapy or medicine.

Key course features

• This course is designed to give you the opportunity to achieve the required competence profile for autonomous osteopathic practice whilst further developing your pre-existing knowledge and skills in the area of musculoskeletal care.
• You will be exposed to a student centred learning environment to promote the critical acquisition, development and integration of clinical knowledge and osteopathic evaluative and treatment skills, within the context of your pre-existing clinical knowledge, skills, professional values and norms.
• This is underpinned by a critical understanding of osteopathic philosophy and principles. Newly acquired professional capabilities will be developed and consolidated in a supervised student centred clinical education setting.
• You will build upon your knowledge of human structure and function by further developing an integrated knowledge of the inter-relationship between structure, function and dysfunction in clinical presentations and integrated osteopathic care.
• The course will build upon your knowledge and skills of evidence based practice and research to complete a small scale research project.
• The course will also build upon your existing skills in patient care to further refine and develop your capabilities in areas such as diagnostic palpation and manual therapeutic techniques within an osteopathic context.

Careers & employability

The course will enable you to apply for registration with the GOsC and practise as an autonomous osteopathic practitioner within the UK. This course will enable you to maintain your existing professional role whilst further enhancing your competence profile as a specialist primarily in the area of musculoskeletal care. To this end, you will develop the knowledge and skills required to integrate osteopathy with your existing area of clinical practice.