Post Grad Sports Medicine Msc - To do or not to do?

[PhysioN@]

Has anyone done a masters in sports Medince straight after qualifying as a physio? would you advise?

I qualify this summer and am considering going straigth into a 1-year post grad Masters in Sports Medicine at Cardiff.

The course content is highly appealing to my interests and is definatly the route in physio i want to take....although i have had mixed feedback.. some tutors are saying 'Go for it girl' others are less enthusiastic and suggesting i gain clinical experience first...

I dont have that much musculoskeletal experience (only 4-week placement) but i am planning to do A LOT over summer to get my skills up to scratch...ie pitch side and volunteering..

ANY advice would be brilliant please!!

Thank you!

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[Rachie]

Hello

I qualified in physio 2006 and went straight into doing an MSc in pain science. I think if your interested in research and the area not having clinical experience shouldn't deter you too much. Obviously, having it is good but definitely not the bee all and end all. My friend and I found that initially some colleagues in the lectures we sceptical about us being there with no clinical experience but lecturers were very supportive and it was definitely some thing that has developed my thinking. Its good to bare in mind that some come from clinical practice have not had the basic research training that you probably take for granted such as literature searching and critiquing. In the end we found that everyone on the masters brought different skills to the group and working together meant everyone benefited.

Finally, I would say that the biggest things to consider are:

1. What direction do you want to go in? If you are going straight to a masters it might be harder to get into physio after as you have been out of practice for a year (a possible problem).

2.What are you expecting from the masters - I thought it would be much more about pain but found it was mostly about applying research to the area of interest. Sounds obvious but it was definitely different to how I pictured it.

3. Finances - MScs are expensive!!! are you prepared/ able to pay for this as funding can be difficult and repaying loans a bind lol!

Right, well sorry to waffle on, hope that was in some way helpful...I must have a bigger bee in my bonnet than I initially thought haha!!

Regards
Rach

[PhysioN@]

thank you so much for the reply.

great help.

im still in 2 minds..so many pros and cons(to call it that) of each, at the end of the day no matter how much conflicting advise people give me i must make the decision at the end of the day ...which is what im finding hardest!

thank you very much and i hope your succeeding in managing peoples pain!..my mum would be a great candidate of yours..typical chronic back pain followed by depression and all that goes with it. we all do what we can tho ey. x