Sports Physical Therapy, Rehab & Recovery Services in Franklin, TN

At The Athlete Lab, we provide sports physical therapy, rehabilitation, recovery services, and return-to-sport testing for athletes in Middle TN, Franklin, TN, and surrounding areas. Our services are designed for active adults, student athletes, tactical athletes, and combat athletes who want a more focused, performance-driven approach to recovery, movement, and return to activity.

The Athlete Lab is not your typical physical therapy experience.

When you see the wrestling mats on the floor, Muay Thai kicking bags, functional training equipment, plunge tanks, and red light therapy beds, you will think you just walked into one of the best-equipped training rooms in the NFL or UFC.

Combine this with professional nutritional support, on-site IV therapy, and the most advanced Hyperice recovery equipment, and you will now have access to something 80% of professional athletes don’t have.

But it’s not just about having advanced equipment. What matters most is the expertise behind it, and knowing how to use these tools strategically to help deliver the most effective and efficient outcome possible.

Meet The Athlete Lab’s founder, Dr. Trent Nessler, PT, MPT, DPT.

Dr. Trent Nessler works with the highest-level of sports and tactical athletes all over the globe.

As a Franklin, Tennessee resident for 20+ years, he wanted to bring that home to his community.  The Athlete Lab combines our founder’s 25+ years of sports medicine experience with the latest in sports medicine technologies and protocols, and The Athlete Lab’s proprietary research and product design and development to expedite your return to the sport or activity you love. Read more about Dr. Trent Nessler.

Sports Rehabilitation and Recovery Services

Recovery is an important part of performance and long-term athletic health. Our athlete rehabilitation and recovery services are custom-built for you with tools and programming designed to support healing, reduce downtime, and help athletes feel better prepared for training and competition.

Learn more about The Athlete Lab’s Sports Rehabilitation and Recovery Services.

ACL Rehab for Athletes

ACL rehabilitation should prepare you not only to recover, but to move well and return with confidence. The Athlete Lab emphasizes objective movement analysis and athlete-specific progression to help support better decision-making throughout the rehab process.

If you’re an ACL-injured athlete, you want your rehabilitation to prepare you to be the best you can be before you return to sport. You want a highly experienced athletic professional who helps you mitigate the risk for injury upon return to sport and allows you to perform at a higher level than you did prior to your injury.  Dr. Trent Nessler, PT, MPT, DPT, the founder of The Athlete Lab, is an internationally recognized expert in the area of ACL rehabilitation, ACL prevention, and ACL return to sport.  At The Athlete Lab, we use the ViMove+ AMI (a 3D motion analysis system), developed by Dr. Nessler, which has been used in 5 countries to assess over 90,000 sport and tactical athletes.  By applying Dr. Nessler’s proprietary methodology and approach, this provides athletes with measurable, objective improvement in movement, reduction of injury risk, and improvement in performance.  This is why this system and approach are used in professional athletics (NFL, NBA) and elite military groups all over the globe to aid in reducing injury risk and improving performance.

Explore these ACL Rehab Resources.

BJJ & MMA Injury Rehabilitation

For BJJ and MMA athletes, sport-specific understanding matters. At The Athlete Lab, this service is built around the real demands of combat sports, including positions, submissions, grappling, striking, mat return, and the movement patterns required in training and competition.

The Athlete Lab is the only clinic in Middle Tennessee where you can get 25 years of professional sports medicine experience combined with 15 years of treating MMA athletes and more than 11 years of training BJJ.

As a BJJ black belt, Dr. Trent Nessler brings together his education and background in sports biomechanics with his own firsthand experience on the mats to provide BJJ and MMA athletes with a deeper level of understanding and care.

This gives combat athletes access to a rehab approach designed specifically for the sport, with insight into both the physical demands of recovery and the technical demands of returning safely and confidently to training.

Get the experience of a BJJ black belt who works with sport and tactical athletes at the highest level. That means getting back to the mats in half the time the traditional PT route would take.

Explore these BJJ Resources.

The Athlete Lab offers Virtual Visits.

The Athlete Lab’s Virtual Visits make it possible for athletes to get expert guidance from anywhere when in-person care is not accessible. This service is designed for athletes who need a clear rehab plan, progress check, or sport-specific support, including MMA, BJJ, combat athletes, and those recovering from ACL injuries.

Virtual visits provide one-on-one access to experienced sports physical therapists, including Dr. Trent Nessler, for specialized guidance, with 60-minute evaluation and follow-up sessions focused on helping athletes recover, perform, and return to sport with a comprehensive, evidence-based approach.