Frequently asked questions
Who Runs Active Health Group?
Who validates/accredits the courses?
Who issues the qualifications?
What types of courses do you run?
Our training portfolio covers Sports Therapies, Myofascial Release, Bodywork, Fitness, Health Coaching and also Teaching and Assessing. We also run CPD workshops for therapists and a range of online courses. All of our courses are insurable for practitioners, therapists and trainers.
How do I pay for the courses?
Our courses can be paid for by Cash, Cheques, Credit/Debit Cards and Bank Transfer. Where instalments are available, these must be paid for by equal monthly direct debits, which are interest-free. Due to the huge costs involved (which would have to be passed on to our learners), we do not offer Adult Learner Loans (19+/24+).
What happens if I cannot complete the course in time?
All our courses come with an 'expiry date', just like you would get with a College or University course. This ensures our courses are current and valid, and fall in line with Regulation policies. Maximum timescales are as follows: Level 3 - one year; Level 4 - one year; Level 5 - two years; Level 6 - four years. We understand that sometimes life gets in the way of study which is why we have our online classrooms and forums where you can get support from our tutors and your peers. Our student support team are also there to help where required. We look at cases on an individual basis, but always tell our learners that if they are undergoing any difficulties to let us know straight away so that we can help.
What are the job prospects for a sports therapist?
Sports Therapists are gaining huge recognition in the UK, and this has led to more companies, sports clubs and individuals seeking their services. Recent Sports Therapy vacancies have been advertised with starting salaries of £27,000 pa. In private practice, average earnings of up to £60 per hour are possible. Some of our graduates have gone on to do the following jobs: Osteopathic Assistant, Football Sports Therapist (up to Premier League), Rugby Sports Therapist (up to SuperLeague level), Lecturing, Sports Injury Clinic, Private Practice, GPs’ Surgery, European Ski resort, Dance School. Some NHS trusts now employ Sports Therapists in the rehabilitation departments. Compared to other Health Professions, Sports Therapy, at only around 30 years old, is still in its infancy, which is why AHG is leading the way in getting more recognition and offers Business Building workshops for our students and graduates.
Where do you run your training courses from?
Our aim is to ensure our students work in a relaxed and professional atmosphere, and similar to one in which they may be working in upon graduation. It is for this reason that we run most of our courses from our own purposely designed training centre, with attached clinic in Manchester City Centre. We have spacious training rooms, a resource centre/library with free internet access and full use of our comprehensive range of books, DVDs, videos and PC software, kitchen plus our on-site clinic. Our therapy clients know the high quality of our training courses, and will often volunteer for treatments from students, which is why we have a dedicated student clinic to get your real-life practice, something that is fairly unique to AHG. We also work with many sports clubs, so on-site work can also be arranged. We also offer students an online resource centre, giving access to websites, course notes, tests and exams. Rehab courses may be run from our partner Gym.
I have checked out other courses and yours seems expensive!
What is the difference between a diploma in Sports Therapy and a Degree in Sports Therapy?
How long does it take to complete your Level 5 Advanced Diploma?
Our Level 5 Advanced Diploma is run over 2 years and has been assessed at over 800 learning hours (approximately 8 hours per week). Some of our learners have come from different backgrounds (physiotherapy, sports massage, personal training, etc), and have already covered some of our syllabus so can reduce the time taken to complete. Also, as a vocational course, if a learner can commit more time per week to complete the course, it can be done in less time than 2 years. Many of our learners are coming to us for a career change and have been out of 'education' for many years, and we are fully equipped to deal with all learning styles.
What is the difference between Active Health courses and those of other training providers?
There is only one company that run AHG qualifications, and that is AHG! We don’t franchise our courses, and we don’t have hundreds of colleges with varying standards. When you train with us, you can be assured of the highest standard of training, backed by a national awarding body and working very closely with the governing body and regulator. We find some of the alternative therapy courses on offer by other training schools disturbing due to the huge variances of their standards. As an example, you can do a Level 3 Sports Massage course in 3 days at one institution but complete it over 1 year at another. There just doesn’t seem to be any standard. AHG have full control over the quality of their courses.
Do I need a degree to be a sports therapist?
Sports Therapy or Sports Massage: What is the difference?
The two are commonly confused, however, Sports Massage is a single element of Sports Therapy. Level 3 Sports Massage focusses on basic massage techniques, performed on ‘non pathalogical’, or ‘uninjured’ tissue. This level, of course, in our opinion is suitable as a foundation course, but not practitioner level as one cannot work on injuries. Level 4 Sports Massage has additional soft tissue skills and allows for sports massage to be performed to prevent and treat injury. As injury treatments primarily involve the use of additional techniques such as cryotherapy, ultrasound, taping etc, sports massage treatments will be very limited for this purpose. Level 5 Sports Massage involves a greater amount of functional anatomy. Sports Therapy courses start at Level 5 and their pre-requisites are Sports Massage and Anatomy & Physiology. Sports Therapy builds on Sports Massage to include advanced soft tissue techniques, orthopaedic assessments, cryotherapy, thermal therapy, athletic taping, sports first aid and injury rehab. Most Sports Therapists will find that Sports Massage becomes a tiny proportion of their treatment. For more information please click here.
What support do you offer when I qualify?
We are proud to be part of the largest network of sports therapists, anywhere! Our Alumni benefit from many free online courses and workshops to help with their practice, we also have private mentoring groups where we can offer continuing support. Most of our students have come to us through word of mouth, so it is absolutely in our best interest to ensure that we go above and beyond anyone else in terms of providing ongoing support for our graduates. We are extremely proud that some of our Alumni from the start of our history, still keep in touch with us, from all over the globe! Without sounding cliché, we do feel strongly that AHG keeps its family feel, as our students and graduates help stop our job feeling like work!
Any Other AHG Benefits?
As a learner on one of our certificated courses, you will be eligible to apply for a TOTUM card (which is the new name for NUS Extra Student Card. You also get 6 months Premium access to KenHub, which is the most amazing anatomy software on the internet! We have our own AHG Online Academy, where our students can access their course materials, and upon graduation keep their access to all resources. We regularly update the portfolio of online courses to allow our graduates to keep their skills current. We also offer many free business and marketing courses for our learners, to ensure they get the best start in their career. Our students get free student membership to the Sports Therapy Organisation, which helps them to start networking with other professionals immediately. We also have a student clinic which is run from our onsite health centre, which allows our learners to get real-life work experience in a very busy clinic.
How Can I Book a Visit?
We appreciate that some may wish to come to have a look around, speak to staff, tutors and students and look at our facility before booking a course, and we actively encourage this if you get the opportunity. If you would like to visit, just give us a call on 0161 235 5307 or drop us a message.
How do I enrol on to a course?
On each of our course pages, you will find dates that are linked to our external booking site. Click on your chosen course and then complete the registration form on our booking site. Alternatively, you can call us on 0161 312 5030. Our standard terms and conditions need to be agreed to before an application is processed to an enrolment.