CAREER PROFILE

What does a Physiotherapist actually do?

The honest version — real salaries, real hours, real entry routes. From the CourseThread Career Atlas.

Starting salary — log in
Mid-career salary — log in
37.5–40 hrs
Typical week
AI: Low
AI vulnerability

The short version

Physiotherapists restore movement and function across MSK clinics, wards, ICU and sport. HCPC registration via a physiotherapy degree, pre-registration MSc or apprenticeship is the gate — and beware: sports therapy degrees do not lead to it.

The pitch: broad clinical variety, a real private market alongside the NHS, and strong demand fundamentals. The catch: early-career rotations make you a beginner repeatedly, NHS pay follows the fixed band ladder, and the advice-only end of private MSK work is being commoditised by exercise apps.

Entry routes that actually work

  • BSc physiotherapy (3 years) — standard route with clinical placements.
  • MSc pre-registration (2 years) — for graduates of related degrees.
  • Degree apprenticeship — employed route through an NHS trust.

Read the full guide — free

The complete Physiotherapist profile — salary by year, honest day-in-the-life, AI vulnerability breakdown, and the exit-path map — is in the Career Atlas. Log in to read it online or download the PDF.

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Free account. No card. The Atlas is free to read and download.

Inside the full guide

Money & progression — salary bands by level, sources cited
Day in the life — a real Tuesday, not the brochure version
AI vulnerability — what AI does, can't do, and how the role is changing
Exit paths — where people go at 2, 5, and 10 years

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