Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy is a health profession dedicated to helping people recover and maintain movement, function, and independence across the full range of clinical conditions and life stages. Physiotherapists work in hospitals, community settings, sports clinics, schools, and private practice, treating patients following injury, surgery, stroke, and chronic conditions ranging from musculoskeletal pain to neurological disorders and respiratory disease. The profession combines scientific knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and biomechanics with the manual, exercise-based, and electrotherapy skills that support physical recovery and rehabilitation.

At Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, this four-year full-time programme leads to an integrated Master of Physiotherapy qualification, reflecting the depth and breadth of training required for professional physiotherapy practice. You will benefit from placements each year throughout the programme, giving you sustained and progressive clinical experience across a range of healthcare settings from the beginning of your studies. The clinical placement structure is one of the most important features of physiotherapy training: it is where the theoretical knowledge, patient assessment skills, and therapeutic competencies developed in the classroom and simulation environments are applied in real clinical encounters with real patients.

QMU's specialist clinical facilities on campus support your learning between placements.

You will develop skills in clinical assessment, differential diagnosis, treatment planning, manual therapy, exercise prescription, and patient communication. The ability to work effectively within multidisciplinary healthcare teams is developed throughout the programme, as is the reflective and evidence-based approach to practice that effective physiotherapy demands.

Graduates are eligible for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council and membership of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. Career settings include the NHS, private practice, sports organisations, and international healthcare. With experience, physiotherapists advance into specialist clinical, management, education, and research roles.