Why Lancaster?

• Benefit from high-quality teaching delivered within Lancaster Medical School
• Build your applied sports and exercise medicine skills with practice-based learning and placements across clinical, community and research settings
• Study and work in parallel through our hybrid delivery
• Learn through lab-based practicals, workshops, seminars and lectures

Why sport and exercise medicine?

An MSc in Sport and Exercise Medicine from Lancaster University will see you develop the knowledge and skills to help people reach their potential through exercise and sport participation. That might range from athletes seeking optimal health to achieve sporting excellence to patients preparing for surgery or recovering from a clinical event such as stroke and people wanting to regain strength and mobility after an illness.

As one of only three medical schools in the UK delivering sport and exercise medicine, you will receive expert clinical and practical training underpinned by sound scientific knowledge.

You will study emerging themes in this exciting field, based on cutting-edge research and contemporary developments.

Our multidisciplinary curriculum goes beyond musculoskeletal health and injury to encompass respiratory medicine, concussion, behaviour change and community-based interventions for long-term conditions.

You will learn to skills such as how to assess injury recovery performance, analyse athletic asthma profiles or understand the impact of concussion. You will also gain an understanding of the psychological benefits of exercise and how to facilitate long-term behaviour change for disease prevention or management.

A consistent focus on cross-cutting practical skills, simulation and case scenarios throughout the programme ensures theory is always connected to practice.

You will engage with multidisciplinary teams and apply your learning in real-life settings during placement opportunities, preparing you for a future in elite performance or patient-facing roles in sport and exercise medicine contexts.

Is sport and exercise medicine for me?

We welcome applications from people with a range of previous qualifications and experience.

Undergraduate degree holders

If you hold an undergraduate degree in subjects such as sports and exercise science, sport rehabilitation, medicine and surgery, physiotherapy or the biosciences, this master’s degree will enable you to specialise further and stand out in a competitive jobs market.

It will enable you to gain further skills in screening and exercise testing, data collection and analysis and communicating with diverse audiences, whilst also developing your professional networks.

Medical students

This degree represents an excellent choice for intercalation if you are a medical student wishing to gain specific skills in the context of sports and exercise.

Mid-career professionals

If you already work in the field of health, medicine or sport, this master’s degree is an ideal way to further develop your skill set with applied health and medical knowledge.

Perhaps you are a physiotherapist and want to help athletes or sports teams to reach peak performance, or maybe you want to improve your patients’ health through increased exercise. You might be a medical professional keen to better prepare your patients for upcoming surgery or perhaps you want to work as part of a pitch-side medical team.

Whatever your entry route, an MSc in Sport and Exercise Medicine will provide you with knowledge, skills and networks across this broad-based speciality.

How will I learn?

This master’s programme is delivered via blended learning, a hybrid of in-person and distance study.

With full or part-time options, it has been designed to enable you to study alongside a full-time job or other commitments.

You study via four, one-week blocks of in-person teaching at our Lancaster campus. Here, you will learn in our excellent laboratory spaces, including our Human Performance Lab, Biomechanics Lab, and Mobile Simulation Teaching Unit. These practical sessions will see you put your learning to the test and are also a great opportunity to get to know your peers and course tutors. In between these teaching blocks, you will learn through online lectures and tutorials from your home location.

This degree uses case-based learning. This means you will use real-life case studies and scenarios to explore the key topics and multidisciplinary nature of sport and exercise medicine.

This approach will enable you to identify relevant areas of learning, deeply understand and apply your knowledge as an independent learner and share what you have learnt with your peers.

During your course you will complete a minimum of 250 hours of practice-based learning. Part of this will take place during the practical activities within our campus labs, with the remainder taking place as part of one or more placements that you will undertake during your studies. The sports and exercise medicine team are there to support you in organising your placement.

Where will Sport and Exercise Medicine take me?

There is an expanding jobs market for this growing specialism.

This is in response to the growing need for experts to support and maximise elite athletic performance, as well as the demand for professionals who can help prevent and manage health conditions through physical activity and personalised exercise prescription.

You might work as a specialist sport and exercise medicine clinician or advisor across a range of settings, including professional and amateur sports teams and organisations, hospitals or primary care clinics, private practice, workplace health and rehabilitation or care for the elderly. Or, instead, you might apply your specialist knowledge and transferrable skills to roles in organisations like sport governing bodies.

Whether you choose a role in healthcare or elite performance after graduation, a fulfilling career awaits.