Clinical Exercise Physiology (Taught)

This unique Master’s course allows you to build on your sport and exercise background so you can transition into clinical settings specialising in exercise physiology. It gives you the opportunity to investigate the physiological consequences of chronic, debilitating diseases and the role of exercise testing in detecting the changes these diseases cause. You put learning into practice via real-life opportunities at our on-site Community Exercise Clinic, working with a range of clinical populations including neurological, cardiac, dementia and hypotensive, with further work-based placement opportunities with industry experts.

Course accreditation/industry endorsement
We are working towards accreditation by the Academy for Healthcare Science (AHCS). We increase the employability of our graduates by being a Higher Education Partner of the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA).

Facilities and specialist equipment
CASES-accredited laboratories including a biomechanics laboratory with 3D camera system
Put learning into practice via real-life opportunities in our Community Exercise Clinic
Human Performance Centre with an environmental heat chamber where professional athletes and sports people come to train
Nutrition research kitchen
Sports injury and rehabilitation centre
Additional equipment includes a Woodway treadmill; metabolic cart with integrated 12-lead ECG and RMR hood; hydrostatic weighing tank; and echocardiogram machine

Industry links
We are official education partners of Luton Town FC and Bedford Blues RFC as well as other sporting organisations in the region, giving you opportunities to improve your employability through work placements. Additionally, our links to both local and national organisations, from the Premier League to grassroots sport, provide opportunities for industry-related work.

Your student experience
Learn from an industry-experienced teaching team, actively involved in research in their field.
Benefit from on-campus opportunities to extend your knowledge and put your learnt skills into practice through our Community Exercise Clinic, Human Performance Centre and sports injury clinic.
Complete 250 hours of work experience, with local placements including The MS Centre, Bedford; NHS Bedford Hospital; Milton Keynes Cardiopulmonary Community Group; and Bedford Council.
Our Human Performance Centre helps train professional athletes and sports people including triathlete Lucy Charles Barclay, Team GB and junior Formula 1 racing driver Frederik Vesti; the heat chamber is regularly used to acclimatise athletes taking on competitions and marathons in places with high temperatures.
Attend masterclass lectures from industry practitioners including Dr Cheryl Barford (exercise prescription for clinical populations); Tarryn Mutch (clinical exercise therapy); and Abbie Bell, Senior Clinical Exercise Physiologist at Bedford Hospital’s Cardiac Rehabilitation Department.
Graduate with a degree that gives you employability. Our graduates have pursued careers as student cardiologists, exercise physiologists, paediatric respiratory physiologists, therapy assistants and health advisers at Bedford Hospital, Luton and Dunstable Hospital, Southampton Children’s Hospital, Milton Keynes University Hospital, and BUPA.