Curious about studying Sports Therapy - BSc (Hons)at Birmingham City University? We've gathered all the key details—entry requirements, modules, fees, and more. Hear from real students by checking out reviews, or take the next step by booking an open day to explore it for yourself.
Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)
City South Campus, Edgbaston
Full Time
Sep 2026
3 Year
Our innovative, practice-based Sports Therapy course is a chance for you to develop specialist skills in the prevention, treatment, management and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal injuries. Underpinned by sports medicine and sport and exercise science, this course is accredited by The Society of Sports Therapists. This ensures that the knowledge and competencies you gain during your time on the course are aligned with professional industry standards. You will learn with a dynamic, expert and research-rich team of sports therapists, health professionals and sports scientists, enabling you to gain a holistic education in sports therapy. Upon successful completion of the programme, you will be fully equipped with the clinical skills to work with professional sports teams, as well as with individual elite performers. Alternatively, you may wish to work in private practice, treating a wide variety of individuals in a musculoskeletal injury clinic. You will cover all competencies required by The Society of Sports Therapists, such as examination, assessment and treatment of musculoskeletal injuries, delivery of soft tissue therapies, peripheral and vertebral joint mobilisations, sport and exercise rehabilitation, strength and conditioning, and trauma management to name a few. There will be compulsory work placements built into all three years of your course providing you with invaluable real-life, hands-on learning. These will include both internal and external opportunities with sporting teams and musculoskeletal injury clinics. Additionally, you can opt to complete a 12 month placement (sandwich course), which could either be within the UK or abroad. By studying this course, you’ll split your time between our recently extended £71 million campus in Edgbaston, Birmingham, and the world-class Alexander Stadium in Perry Barr, Birmingham which contain our state-of-the-art sport and exercise laboratory, sports therapy rooms, cutting-edge resources and a designated sports area. The Stadium was home to the Commonwealth Games in summer 2022, and the University is investing an additional £5m in areas across both main stands which will be home to our students.
This module will allow you to explore the management of common musculoskeletal injuries. You will initially develop your hands on skills and practically apply sports massage techniques, whilst learning the underpinning theory behind its application and justification for its use. You will also learn essential pitch side skills by undertaking a first aid qualification and developing your assessment skills to recognise and assess injuries that may occur in sporting scenarios.
To work as a sports therapist, it is imperative that you have an excellent understanding of human anatomy and movement. This module introduces human anatomy, specifically focussing on the structures, properties and functions of bones, joints, tendons, ligaments, and muscles. The axial and appendicular skeleton will be studied in relation to joint type and associated movements, whilst the skeletal muscle system will be investigated in terms of the attachments of selected ligaments, muscles, and tendons.
The module will develop your anatomical knowledge gained from ‘Applied Anatomy for Sports Therapists’ and support you in applying this to joint assessment techniques. You will learn about various assessment techniques that are used to assist in peripheral joint injury diagnosis and will be introduced to critical thinking as you discuss their respective relevance and reliability. You will develop your clinical handling skills, as you learn how to carry out these musculoskeletal assessment techniques.
This module will introduce the academic skills required for studying Sport and Exercise in Higher Education, and to the resources needed to support academic and personal development. The skills and resources introduced in this module will be used throughout the course, and after successful completion of studies, to enable lifelong learning as a competent and autonomous practitioner. The module will introduce the research process and consider how knowledge is generated in an applied manner for Sport and Exercise Science, Sports Therapy, and Sports Coaching and Physical Education disciplines. Students will be provided with skills in relation to finding appropriate sources of information relating to their area of study and be able to read and understand these effectively. There will be a focus on the scientific method, academic writing skills, data collection and analysis skills.
This module will develop your knowledge and understanding of physiology, principles of training, and practical coaching, which relate to sport and exercise. You will be introduced to the concept of the body working as multiple interrelated physiological systems. Whilst each system has its own independent function, the function of one will have a direct impact on the function of another and link to human physical performance.
This module provides you with the principles of injury management and exercise in the early, intermediate, and late stages of recovery from sporting musculoskeletal injuries. You will learn to plan, implement, progress and regress comprehensive rehabilitation programmes to return the athlete to full sporting participation, as well as reading and evaluating research evidence supporting different rehabilitation approaches.
This module will build on the practical skills developed at Level 4 as you focus on developing your understanding and application of the objective assessment process. You will work on your theoretical understanding of the principles underpinning peripheral joint assessments, as well as enhancing your practical handling skills. You will also consider the subjective nature of an assessment in more detail as you focus on specific questions related to each joint. This module will challenge you to consider the purpose of each stage of an assessment process to ensure you are fully equipped to assess any peripheral joint presentation.
In this module you will learn how to assess the spine and examine spinal conditions that frequently occur in the sporting environment. This module builds on the principles of joint assessment that you learnt in Level 4 and 5, but further develops your ability to interpret and reason the findings of an assessment. You will also learn how to implement and prescribe early management techniques for common spinal injuries and conditions.
This module will provide you with the foundations underpinning biomechanics, mechanisms of injury and pathological conditions. You will learn how to use biomechanical tools, such as force plates and cameras to measure and analyse a range of movements in healthy and pathological conditions, as you understand the biomechanical risks of injury. Similarly, you will apply your theoretical knowledge of biomechanics to assess movement.
This module will prepare students for the Independent Research Project at level 6. The module will provide scenarios and conditions that will improve students’ ability to interpret and critique research, as well as make logical conclusions. Learning and teaching will be carried out on aspects such as how to answer research questions by analysing and presenting data, and a variety of ‘soft skills’, such as organisation and communication are developed.
Students may opt to complete the Professional Placement Year, whereby they will need to complete a minimum of 1200 hours with a professional sports team or club. As part of this year, they will complete a SWOT analysis, formulate learning outcomes, and regularly reflect on their practice and development of skills in relation to the goals / outcomes set. There are quarterly student reflections and supervisor feedback, alongside reviews with the placement lead to ensure the placement is meeting the requirements of the course. The completed documentation will need to be submitted and will receive a pass/ fail grade.
This module provides the opportunity to design and carry out a substantive piece of independent research, which is focused on the student’s interest. This in-depth, self-managed study will encourage the examination of a critical issue from a particular sector or discipline. The skills, knowledge, and experience that students have gained from level 4 and 5 will be important in this module. The core learning within this module will involve independent work, and this will be supported by regular tutorial sessions with a project supervisor. The use of the department’s state-of-the-art facilities will be available to students to use for their projects. There may also be the opportunity to work with selected external partners.
The aim of this module is to allow you to acquire a theoretical and practical understanding of strength and conditioning in relation to preventing sports injuries. You will gain an insight into musculoskeletal screening and how to conduct, analyse, and present test data in a real-world context. You will be able to examine contemporary training theories and successfully apply the principles into a periodised training plan. As with all modules, you will examine and critique the scientific basis supporting the inclusion of specific exercises within training programmes.
This module explores the use of manual therapy techniques for the restoration of normal peripheral and vertebral joint biomechanics. Building on your knowledge from Assessment and Management of Musculoskeletal Injuries and Assessment and Management of the Spine, you will further assess joint biomechanics, particularly focusing on the relationships between accessory and physiological movements. This module will allow you to explore normal and altered joint function and apply treatment techniques to sport and exercise-related injury scenarios.
This module will help to consolidate the skills you have developed since the start of the course and will cover additional topics that will be useful to you upon graduation—such as key information for setting up and running a business. This information will be focused specifically on sports therapy, but the principles discussed will be applicable to any area you may wish to work in in the future. We will also cover additional aspects relating to your clinical practice in a sporting environment, such as on-field injury assessments and strapping and taping techniques. By the end of the module, you must have completed 200 hours of supervised clinical practice from your placements to ensure that you meet the competencies to be registered as a Graduate Sports Therapist, accredited by The Society of Sports Therapists.
This module will provide you with the opportunity to progress your skills in assessment and management of musculoskeletal injuries, focussing on more complex clinical case scenarios. It will integrate clinical examination, assessment, pathophysiology, rehabilitation and therapeutic methods for the treatment and management of sports injuries. You will also be exposed to contemporary issues in Sports Therapy and encouraged to develop advanced clinical reasoning and assessment skills to assist your differential diagnosis and injury management.
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