Bachelor of Physiotherapy (Honours)

Physiotherapists are health care professionals who use exercise, movement analysis, manual therapy and specialist techniques to restore, improve and promote health. This course will develop the knowledge and skills you need to practice as a physiotherapist, preparing you for a range of career opportunities working independently or as part of a team of healthcare professionals.

The focus of the early part of the course is on the conditions for which people typically seek physiotherapy. You will study the biomedical and behavioural sciences (anatomy, biomechanics, kinesiology, pathology, pharmacology, physiology, psychology, radiology, sociology) and lay the foundations for physiotherapy practice and research, using a problem-based and patient-centred approach to learning.

In the later years you move to the clinical setting, developing core knowledge and skills and practice in the delivery of physiotherapy services under the supervision of experienced physiotherapists. This clinical education will occur in a diversity of settings, including metropolitan and rural health services, with challenges increasing in years three and four.

Your skills will be developed through small group learning with some time each semester spent working with students enrolled in other health science courses (i. e. occupational therapy, nursing, paramedic, medical imaging, nutrition and dietetics, social work), enabling you to experience interdisciplinary service delivery and inter-professional education.

You will learn from highly trained and experienced physiotherapists who are skilled in education and research and gain exposure to areas in which you could later specialise, such as:

• cardiorespiratory care - to help people with heart or lung problems

• gerontology - to keep older people at their physical best

• neurology - to provide rehabilitation to people with neurological conditions such as stroke, spinal cord injury, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis

• musculoskeletal care - often delivered in sports or spinal physiotherapy, arthritis management and rehabilitation after reconstructive or joint replacement surgery.

After successfully completing this course, you will be eligible to apply for registration with the Physiotherapy Board of Australia, which enables graduates to practice in all states and territories. Physiotherapists are in demand across all fields of modern health care. Physiotherapists work in public and private hospitals, health centres, sports medicine clinics, maternity hospitals, rehabilitation centres, aged-care facilities and in private practices, as well as in health promotion, education, management and research. This course offers the potential of a lifetime of challenges, opportunities and rewards.