Sports Massage Courses and Qualifications

For maximum flexibility, our courses utilise the blended learning model. This involves a period of home study which incorporates access to our online student platform LES (the Learner Engagement System), revising from your bespoke manuals and access via phone and email to your personal support tutor.

During this time, you'll also experience practical training at a leading health and fitness facility in the UK.

Currently, we deliver our sports massage courses in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Cardiff at David Lloyd, Village Gym and Bannatyne clubs. Over the coming months, we also have plans to add even more venues.

A full list of venues, including their facilities and accessibility, as well as travel information, can be found on venues page.

The big question. The simple answer is, to become a fully qualified sports massage therapist you'll need the Level 3 Diploma in Sports Massage. This can either be done standalone or combined with the Level 3 Personal Training Diploma to create the Sports Massage and Personal Training package.

In our experience, sports massage is an incredibly rewarding on its own, but many fitness professionals choose to combine it with our disciplines. The most popular is personal training, but yoga and Pilates are also viable professions to combine sports massage with.

To discover more about the profession of sports massage and the qualities you'll need to possess before embarking on a rewarding journey, you can read our in-depth career guide.

Sports massage is highly effective at treating soft tissue injuries and dysfunction. It's this broad application that keeps massage therapists well employed and allows them to help a wide variety of people in a range of situations.

A few commonly occurring injuries are shin splints, tennis elbow, rotator cuff impingement, plantar fasciitis and carpal tunnel syndrome.

Our course is designed to educate you about these various conditions and most importantly, will empower you to diagnose the condition and deliver an effective plan of action for treatment.

As soon as you complete your sports massage course, you'll unlock CV Connect within LES. This game-changing platform directly connects you with the country's biggest active leisure employers including Pure Gym, David Lloyd, JD Gyms, Life Fitness, Nuffield Health and hundreds more.

All you need to do is polish and upload your CV, select the employers you'd like to work with and that's it. We'll pass your CV along and if employers like what they see, they'll contact you directly.

The freelance, self-employed route is also incredibly viable. As a qualified therapist, you could set up your own practice or clinic or work for an existing establishment. There's also a great demand for therapists to assist with competitive athletic events, such as marathons, triathlons and even Ironman.

One of the many appealing aspects of a career in massage therapy is that there are no formal entry requirements. Essentially, everything you need to set you up for a successful career will be taught to you on course and provided in our learning materials.

It would be desirable if you did possess a Level 2 Fitness Instructor qualification (either Gym or Exercise to Music), but it's by no means a deal-breaker.

Our team of expert support tutors are here to help you, regardless of your prior experience or knowledge.

We pride ourselves on delivering learner support without limits. Firstly, our Learner Engagement System has been built from the ground up with you in mind. You'll find a wealth of practice quizzes and innovative video lectures to guide you. This system is available 24 hours a day, 7-days a week and it can be accessed from any browser or device.

When you enrol you'll be assigned a dedicated support tutor. From Monday to Friday, they'll be available via email or phone to answer questions, guide your learning and hone your sports massage knowledge. This support is flexible, so it can be on an ad hoc basis or you'll be able to book in regular calls.

The important thing to remember is that you're never on your own when you're studying with HFE.