Sport and Exercise Science BSc

This module provides a mathematical foundation for understanding and characterising movement of both the body and sports equipment such as balls and other projectiles. It will cover forces and moments around joints, acceleration and inertia, and linear and rotational motion.

In this module, you will be introduced to the physiology of major systems such as cardiovascular, nervous, and musculoskeletal, including some aspects of drug action. This module will allow you to understand your biochemical and genetics knowledge in the context of the intact organism. This module includes lectures and laboratory classes.

This module combines lectures and laboratory classes and introduces you to the structure and function of significant molecules in cells, and the important metabolic processes which occur inside them. You will study, amongst other topics, protein and enzyme structure and function, the biosynthesis of cell components, and the role of cell membranes in barrier and transport processes. You'll examine how information in DNA is used to determine the structure of gene products. Topics include DNA structure, transcription and translation and mutation and recombinant DNA technology.

This module will provide the opportunity to study the fundamental principles in:

• Exercise Physiology - including basic cardio-respiratory and muscle responses to exercise, nutritional requirements of exercise, and the basic anatomy of the heart and lungs)
• Psychology – including fundamentals of individual and population group processes in sport and exercise
• Functional Anatomy - focussing on the integration of the anatomy of bones, joints, muscle, ligaments and tendons with the biomechanics of human movement.

This module also focusses on developing core skills required by sport and exercise scientists in scientific writing, experimental design, data handling and analysis, and scientific presentations. 

All students will be required to complete a Personal Development Portfolio (PDP) during their three year study in Nottingham. This mandatory portfolio will include successful completion of a first aid course in year one, undertaking short-term work placements within the University and UK, and obtaining national sport coaching qualifications of their choice.

This module will focus on specific muscles and muscle groups in the upper and lower limbs and relate this to function. The related osteology and important structures such as ligaments and tendons will be studied. There will also be the opportunity to study imaging modalities such as ultrasound. This knowledge will be integrated with fundamental aspects of prevention and treatment of sport- and exercise-related musculoskeletal injury and relevant medical conditions.  

Motion of the body is extremely complex in sporting activities. This module develops skills in measuring the motion and performance of the body using cutting-edge motion analysis equipment.  Examples will be used to illustrate the applications of these techniques in assessing and understanding motion, characterising style and technique and monitoring injury.

This module will cover psychological approaches to maximising training adaptations and enhancing performance in humans. It will also focus on psychological and behavioural risk factors and treatment interventions for optimal rehabilitation from injuries.

This module will explain how the heart and lungs operate within an integrated system to sustain blood pressure, and maintain essential blood supply to peripheral organs. The reaction of peripheral organs to this constantly changing blood supply, and the effects on cardiovascular function will be outlined. These concepts will then enable students to understand the effects of acute exercise on this system, and the effects of training. This knowledge will be integrated with the fundamental aspects of the anatomy of the human cardiovascular and respiratory system.

This module is designed to enable you to develop a strong understanding of how the human body responds acutely to exercise and adapts to chronic physical training, with particular emphasis on skeletal muscle. It will also focus on the interaction between nutrition and energy metabolism and the impact of nutrition on exercise performance. This knowledge will be integrated with the fundamental aspects of the anatomy of the human gastrointestinal system.

This module expands on 2^nd year modules in muscle and cardiorespiratory physiology to understand how the human body reacts, and potentially adapts to, environmental stress. A series of examples including extreme cold, heat, altitude, water immersion, and microgravity will be explored.

All students will be required to complete a Personal Development Portfolio (PDP) during their three year study in Nottingham. This mandatory portfolio will include successful completion of a first aid course in year one, undertaking short-term work placements within the University and UK, and obtaining national sport coaching qualifications of their choice.

This module will equip students with a variety of research methods relevant to their upcoming research project. The importance of correct study design will be emphasised, as well as the ethical considerations when conducting human experiments. Data and statistical analysis techniques appropriate to sport and exercise research will be explained, as well as their importance when deciding on study design.

This module will focus on psychological and behavioural approaches to promoting physical activity at individual and population group level.

This module will enable students to develop a strong understanding of metabolism in the promotion and maintenance of human health, including aspects of muscle, heart, liver and adipose tissue metabolism. It will also cover the role of diet in the development, prevention and treatment of disease.

This module expands on your understanding of skeletal tissue mechanics and physiology to identify the mechanisms of common sports injuries explaining injury thresholds and how these are determined.  The concept of injury criteria will be introduced and used to illustrate how sports equipment and rule changes can be optimised to minimise the risk of injury.

This is a year-long level three module. You will undertake detailed research on a chosen topic in anatomy, biomechanics, exercise physiology, or psychology with close supervision from an academic member of staff. Each project will involve collection of experimental data, their analysis and interpretation in the context of previous published work, and the completion of a written dissertation.

The success of modern medicine has resulted in significant increases in the average human lifespan. This module will focus on the mechanistic basis of human ageing and progression to chronic age-related disease and will consider the role and potential for exercise and pharmacological interventions in offsetting age related decline.

This module will explain how the cardiovascular and respiratory systems are affected by common diseases, such as atherosclerosis, COPD and heart failure, and how exercise is central to the quality of life of these patients. The module will examine the mechanisms underlying prevention of such diseases via increased physical activity, as well as the effect of exercise in managing disease.