Sports and Exercise Medicine (SEM) is one of the smallest specialities in the UK with a range of opportunities for securing employment. Careers in Sport and Exercise Medicine are varied and SEM practitioners can work in a number of settings providing medical care across the NHS and sport and exercise at all levels.
If you’re interested in studying this speciality, this blog will provide you with everything you need to know, such as where this course can take you, the benefits of this career path, and our world-leading online Sports and Exercise Medicine MSc.
Where Our Sports And Exercise Medicine Programmes Can Lead You
Sports and exercise medicine is a fast-growing healthcare field containing many different medical positions,including physical therapy, exercise physiology and athletic training.
The NHS
Currently 19 NHS trusts in England employ Sports and Exercise Consultants. As growing numbers of medical professionals choose to specialise in this area, the Faculty is actively working to increase the number of Sport and Exercise Medicine positions in the NHS.
Sport and Exercise physicians and consultants working in the NHS deliver exercise medicine services and provide SEM-led musculoskeletal services. SEM doctors can also take up managerial positions, for example, a Clinical Lead or Clinical Director. Within these managerial roles, SEM doctors supervise junior doctors and have opportunities to conduct research and teach.
Ministry Of Defence
The Defence Medical Services (DMS) within the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is the single biggest employer of SEM consultants in the UK. Within this role, SEM consultants are based across different regional rehabilitation units, where they provide specialist sport and musculoskeletal rehabilitation services to military personnel in a multidisciplinary environment.
Club Doctor
One of the privileges of being an SEM physician is working with elite athletes. Most SEM consultants have a role in professional team sport providing comprehensive medical care to players. This encompasses the whole clinical spectrum and not only injury management. Ongoing management of chronic medical conditions or troubleshooting of problems normally seen by a GP, are all part of the job.
Private Practice
The increasing popularity of amateur sporting activities and the long waiting lists for NHS treatment in the UK, provide abundant opportunities for SEM consultants to work privately.
The Benefits Of Choosing A Career In SEM
SEM is a great speciality for those with broad-based clinical interests that enjoy working independently or as part of a close-knit team. Some of the benefits of choosing this career path include:
Job Opportunities Across Public, Private and Military Sectors
As mentioned above, job opportunities in SEM are found in all sorts of environments, from NHS and military consultant posts to private sports clinics and professional clubs. This gives SEM physicians a wide selection of options and choices.
Variety
SEM physicians treat patients of all ages, from adolescents starting a new sport to older adults engaging in physical activity. Therefore, the variety of conditions and pathology seen is vast. Patients do not only present with musculoskeletal injuries, but often require optimisation of a medical condition through exercise prescription and lifestyle advice.
Elite Sport & Travel Opportunities
Most professional clubs and Olympic teams now require their doctors to be on the SEM specialist register. There are therefore unique opportunities to work with elite and professional athletes across all disciplines.
SEM physicians based within a team/club are also frequently required to travel with the athletes. This can be for a match, training camp or a large event like an European Championship or Olympic tournament.
Business Development
For those with more of an entrepreneurial mindset, there is scope to set up your own clinic. This is a competitive field, but the speciality is young enough to welcome newcomers with novel ideas.
Sports and Exercise Medicine Master's
Our Sports and Exercise Medicine MSc has been developed for health professionals who are interested in a leadership role within Sports Medicine including GPs, doctors, physicians, surgeons, and physiotherapists. The curriculum is based on the specialist training curriculum developed by the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians.
Why Learna?
Affordable
Our courses are some of the most affordable of their kind, providing value for money without compromising on quality. We also don't apply an international surcharge. No fixed timetable means you can log in & learn on the go, at your convenience.
Flexible Learning
Our postgraduate online course is incredibly flexible, allowing students to further their education with minimal impact on their current lifestyle. Students are given the freedom to study at their own convenience, which means they can learn anytime and anywhere.
World-Leading Tutors
Being totally online means we can select the very best tutors and resource editors from around the world, no matter where they’re located. We are proud to provide a collaborative multidisciplinary experience for our students and ultimately create a unique insight into healthcare systems globally, expanding their knowledge even further.
Our tutors are highly motivated experts and leaders in their own field, inspiring our students to strive for brilliance, with many students setting up their own service after completing the course.
Experts In The Sports And Exercise Education Sector
Our Sports and Exercise Medicine MSc is an established course that has been running since March 2014, and revalidated more recently in 2019.
Who Is This Diploma Course For?
This course is specifically designed to suit all healthcare professionals who have exposure to people with sports related injuries and is particularly relevant to Physiotherapists, Sports Therapists, Chiropractors and Primary Care Physicians with a specialist interest in sports and exercise medicine.
How Will I Learn?
Our courses are conducted entirely online through self-directed distance learning. You’ll receive guidance throughout your course with tutor-stimulated academic discussions, which are based on clinically-rich case scenarios. These usually occur within groups of 10-20 students, allowing you to clearly communicate with both your tutor and fellow students.
Curriculum
Our online Sports and Exercise Medicine MSc is a two year course, consisting of eight modules (180 credits) with the first 120 credits deriving from the Postgraduate Diploma. The second year of the Sports and Exercise Medicine Medicine MSc course starts with an initial 10 week online module that will develop skills in critical appraisal and knowledge of research methodologies. Students then complete the professional project module, which consists of a 1,500 word proposal and 10,500 word professional project (dissertation).
You can find details of all six modules here.
On completion of the Sports and Exercise Medicine master's course, students will have obtained:
- A systematic understanding of the basics of sports medicine and exercise physiology, including the behavioural and life science basis.
- A critical awareness of current issues affecting the care of patients with certain sports related injuries and the tailored benefits of exercise.
- An advanced knowledge of sports and exercise medicine, including physiology and anatomy of exercise.
- An ability to use knowledge to adapt professional practice to meet the changing demands of healthcare systems.
- An applied understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in an appropriate clinical setting.
- An in-depth knowledge and understanding of Sports and Exercise Medicine informed by current scholarship and research.
If you are interested in improving your knowledge in the subject and progressing your career, you can find out more information about our Sports and Exercise Medicine MSc here.