Sports therapy is a career that can take you in several different directions — from sports medicine to massage therapy, for example. In order to choose the best sports therapy courses for you, determine if you want to earn a degree or a certification, if you are just starting out in your career or if you need to take continuing education courses, the delivery of the courses and the cost.
Some employers will hire you to work in sports therapy whether you have a degree or a certification in the program as long as you have completed the sports therapy courses the employer requires. You should do some research for the types of sports organizations that you want to work with to see which type of education they prefer or require. For example, if you want to work with a professional sports team, then you will most likely need a degree. If you are working for a sports physical therapy center that works with kids or adults that happen to have sports injuries, then you may only need a certificate.
You should also assess at which point you are in your sports therapy career. If you have experience or already have a degree or certificate in the field, then you may want to choose to take continuing education sports therapy courses. If, however, you are just starting out in the sports therapy career then you need to choose sports therapy courses that help you start with the basics and then work your way up to the more advanced techniques.
You should also consider the format in which the courses are delivered. Sports therapy tends to be a hands on career, so there will be courses that you want in-class sessions or face-to-face sessions. In other cases, however, there are classes that are more bookwork and learning the basics rather than hands-on work. In the cases where you do not need hands-on or face-to-face contact, you can opt to take some courses online and register for the other types of classes in more of a traditional setting.
Finally, you should consider the cost of the degree or certification program or the individual courses you want to take. Contrast and compare the curriculum and the cost of these programs to at least two other programs to choose the one that provides you the most information for your money. This is in addition to meeting the previous requirements you set for choosing the best sports therapy courses.
