Studying to become a Veterinary Physiotherapist
To be properly qualified as a veterinary physiotherapist it important that you chose a course that is well respected by the veterinary community, otherwise you will struggle to get referrals from veterinarians when you qualify.
Having at least a bachelor of science degree is important, as this will give you the foundation of knowledge required for the job in hand. Writtle, Harper Adams, and Hartpury all offer courses at degree or post graduate level and these courses are well respected and allow access on to a register of a number of governing bodies.
Why is important to be registered with a governing body?
The National Association of Veterinary Physiotherapists (NAVP), The Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Animal Therapy (ACPAT) and The Institute of Registered Veterinary and Animal Physiotherapists are all established trusted bodies. They all have websites that are used by veterinarians, where they have the ability to search for qualified physio’s in their area, making it one of the most valuable business generating tools to use.
I personally chose to study a BSc (Hons) degree in Veterinary Physiotherapy at Harper Adams University. The degree was full-time and covered over 4 years. The first year worked on covering the foundation knowledge of anatomy and physiology, mainly focusing on cats, dogs, horses, and some farm animals too! The second year was much more focused on how this structure and anatomy linked to function. For example, one of my favourite classes was biomechanics as this looked at how muscles and bones worked in the horse’s body (quite like physics). The best part about the course (and what made me chose this one over the others), was that the third year was a placement year. This meant that I was able to go out and get industry experience in the veterinary physiotherapy world. This newfound experience mixed with the foundation of knowledge that I had learnt from the previous years was all merged to help me in final year. The final year was heavily based around clinical practice and getting out there and treating some animals! We had clinics 2 days a week and the other days were used for drawing on the experiences we had gained and working out the best possible solutions for patients.
Everybody has different learning needs and so it important to choose the best possible route for your individuality. Make sure that it is something that you will enjoy by completing some work experience first as it is a job that requires hard work, resilience, and determination- it is not for the faint hearted!
