Osteopathic Medicine

Osteopathic medicine is a regulated healthcare profession concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of conditions affecting the musculoskeletal system and the body as a whole. Osteopaths use manual techniques including soft tissue work, joint mobilisation, and manipulation to treat pain, restore function, and support the body's own capacity for recovery. The profession takes a holistic approach, treating not just the site of pain but the whole person, and examining how posture, movement, and bodily systems interact in both health and disease.

Osteopaths work with patients across the full range of conditions, from acute musculoskeletal injury to chronic pain and postural complaints.

At the University of St Mark and St John in Plymouth, this four-year full-time integrated masters degree provides the undergraduate training required to become a registered osteopath. The programme is designed to enable you to qualify as a registered Osteopath with the General Osteopathic Council, which is the regulatory body for the profession in the UK. You will develop an understanding of how a healthy body functions, what happens in states of disease, and how to diagnose and treat patients using the clinical reasoning and manual skills that osteopathic practice requires.

Clinical training is integral to the programme, giving you direct patient contact under supervision as you develop your professional competence.

You will develop skills in assessment, diagnosis, treatment planning, and manual therapy, alongside the communication and interpersonal skills needed to work effectively with patients in often painful or distressing circumstances. The integrated masters format means you emerge with a qualification that reflects the depth of clinical and academic training required for professional registration.

Graduates are eligible to register with the General Osteopathic Council and to practise as osteopaths in the UK. Career settings include private practice, sports clinics, multidisciplinary healthcare settings, and the NHS. Postgraduate study or specialist training is available for those seeking to develop expertise in particular patient populations or treatment approaches.