Medicine and health
Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Sciences
Getting people moving again after injury, surgery or illness. Four years to licensed practice, daytime hours, and patients who are getting better rather than acutely unwell.
- How long
- Four to five years plus an internship year in the Saudi system; three to four years in the UK. Some countries, notably the US, now require a doctoral-level qualification.
- Called
- BSc Physical Therapy · BSc Physiotherapy · BSc Occupational Therapy · بكالوريوس العلاج الطبيعي
What you actually study
As opposed to what the name suggests.
- Anatomy and biomechanics in unusual depth — you are reasoning about forces through joints and tissue every day.
- Exercise physiology and the science of how tissue heals, adapts and deconditions.
- Neurological, musculoskeletal, cardiorespiratory and paediatric rehabilitation as separate clinical streams.
- Manual assessment and treatment technique, taught practically and examined on placement.
- Behaviour change and communication, because most rehabilitation succeeds or fails on whether the patient does the work between appointments.
The hardest part
The gap between what you can do and what the patient will do. Rehabilitation is slow, the results depend on adherence you do not control, and a substantial part of the skill is motivating people through months of unglamorous work. It is also physically demanding — handling patients all day is hard on your own body, and career-length back and shoulder problems are a known occupational risk.
What you need to get in
By school system. Requirements are set by individual universities and change — confirm on the course page for the year you apply.
Saudi curriculum track
requiredمسار الصحة والحياة — Health and Life Sciences
Through the applied medical sciences or rehabilitation colleges on the standard health composite, at a threshold below medicine and dentistry.
A-Level
helpsBiology · Physical Education · Chemistry · Psychology
Biology is the science most commonly required. Physical Education is accepted by many physiotherapy programmes, which is unusual and worth knowing.
IB Diploma
helpsBiology HL · Sports, Exercise and Health Science · Psychology
A Group 4 science is normally required, with biology the strongest choice.
Advanced Placement
helpsAP Biology · AP Psychology · AP Statistics · AP Physics 1
US physical therapy is now a doctoral programme entered after a bachelor's, so these feed the prerequisite science sequence.
IGCSE
Biology above all, plus mathematics and English. Physical Education is genuinely relevant here rather than merely permitted.
Tests and other gates
- Qudurat and TahsiliGrade 11 and 12
The Saudi admission composite for health and rehabilitation colleges.
- SCFHS classificationAfter the internship year
Required to practise; the classification level follows the qualification and determines scope and pay.
- Physical capabilityThroughout
Not a formal test at most programmes, and a genuine requirement of the work — this is a physically demanding profession and the placement year makes that clear quickly.
What closes this door
- Without biology or an accepted science at A-Level or HL, most programmes are closed.
- An unaccredited programme can block licensure — check accreditation with the regulator before enrolling.
- In the US the entry-level qualification is now doctoral, so the bachelor's alone does not license you there.
Where it leads
Careers written up on this site, and the reason each one follows from this degree.
- Physiotherapist
The direct destination — musculoskeletal, neurological, cardiorespiratory or sports practice.
- Occupational Therapist
The parallel profession: function and daily living rather than movement, often taught in the same college.
- Orthotist & Prosthetist
Devices rather than exercise, for many of the same patients, with a workshop as well as a clinic.
- Speech and Language Therapist
The third rehabilitation profession, reached through its own accredited degree and frequently working alongside you.
- Secondary School Teacher
Physical education and health teaching, and clinical education inside health systems.
- Epidemiologist
Population rehabilitation and disability research, via a public health master's.
And, without a page here yet
- Sports physiotherapy with clubs, federations and national teams
- Private practice ownership, which is where the earning ceiling is
- Paediatric and neurological rehabilitation specialisation
- Ergonomics and occupational health in industry
- Clinical education and rehabilitation management
- Research into rehabilitation outcomes
What it is not
- That it is massage and exercise sheets. It is clinical reasoning about why a movement hurts, and the treatment is the smaller half of the job.
- That sports physiotherapy is the normal destination. It is small, competitive and often poorly paid outside the top tier; most physiotherapists work in hospitals and community clinics.
- That it is easy on the body. Handling patients for a career is physically demanding, and practitioners take that risk seriously.
In Saudi Arabia
Rehabilitation is expanding here for two reasons that are not going to reverse: an ageing population and high rates of diabetes and its complications, plus the sports and physical activity programme, which has increased both participation and the injuries that come with it. The profession has relied substantially on expatriate practitioners and Saudization is a stated priority, so a licensed Saudi physiotherapist is in a strong position. SCFHS classification governs practice, and private practice is growing quickly in the major cities.
Consider instead
Same interest, different trade-off — the most useful section on this page and the easiest to skip.
- NursingBroader clinical practice with more onward specialisation, at a similar length — and shift work rather than daytime hours.
- MedicineRehabilitation medicine and sports medicine, at three times the training.
- Biology and Biomedical ScienceThe physiology underneath, through research rather than clinical practice.
- PsychologyThe behaviour-change half of rehabilitation, taken as a discipline in its own right.
The parts that go out of date
Entry requirements are the fastest-moving information on this site. These are the statements most likely to have changed.
- The entry-level qualification level differs by country — doctoral in the US, bachelor's in most of Europe and the Gulf — and has been rising.
- SCFHS classification requirements are periodically revised.
Where this came from
Admission patterns stated by rehabilitation sciences colleges in the Kingdom and by physiotherapy programmes in the UK, and the SCFHS classification structure governing practice. Individual programmes vary and must be checked directly.
Last checked 2026-09-06. The requirements above describe the pattern across universities, not any one of them — the course page for the year you apply is the only thing that is ever authoritative.