Advanced Musculoskeletal Assessment and Practice

Entry requirements

In order to apply for a place on this degree pathway you will need to have:

• A relevant professional qualification and current registration with the relevant UK professional body.
• A minimum of 1 year post-registration experience and relevant musculoskeletal experience.
• A relevant first degree or relevant professional experience and qualifications that demonstrate ability to study at level seven.

You will also need to be:

• Currently employed in a relevant field of practice.
• Able to provide a demonstration of existing specialist competencies in musculoskeletal practice.

Months of entry

October

Course content

This pathway enables experienced clinicians in the musculoskeletal field to advance their practice. All students engage in material related to clinical decision-making, and there are options available to advance clinical skills such as injection therapy and independent prescribing. There is flexibility within this pathway for you to direct your learning to topics and regions of personal interest.

The pathway is aligned with the four pillars of advanced practice (clinical, leadership, education and research) as outlined by Health Education England's framework for Advanced Clinical Practice. To meet the Masters award, workplace supervision is required throughout the programme.

On this course, you gain:

• critical understanding of the key concepts underlying advanced musculoskeletal clinical skills beyond your normal professional scope of practice
• opportunity to acquire advanced musculoskeletal clinical skills beyond your normal professional scope of practice
• skills to access and critically appraise research findings to develop your own evidence-based practice
• enhanced understanding of the essential principles of research design and to conduct an extensive piece of independent research, including: planning, formulating, designing, choosing research methods, collecting data, analysing, interpreting and writing-up
• a range of transferable employment-related skills

This course sits within our School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences. This allows us to bring together our internationally recognised research, share knowledge, and enhance placement and vocational opportunities for our students and graduates.

Professional, statutory and regulatory bodies

We are committed to embedding the NHS Constitution Values (which are strongly reflected in our University values) into everything we do. They define the behaviours and expectations of all our staff and students underpinning the work we do in the university, clinical arena and other workplaces.

We understand that not all of our students and staff are employed within the NHS. But these values uphold the underlying principles of excellent care as a standard, and as such we expect that anyone who cares for others will aspire to uphold them.

For us, involving not only our students but service users, experts by experience, carers, and NHS/non-NHS professionals in the creation and delivery of all programmes is vital.

Professional accreditation

Accredited by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP).

Information for international students

Entry requirements: You can find international entry requirements for most countries on our international students webpage. If your country is not listed, please contact Postgraduate Admissions at pgadmit@essex.ac.uk.

Fees and funding

There are a wide range of funding options for postgraduate study, including scholarships, bursaries and alumni discounts. You can check your eligibility on our fees and funding webpage.