Dr Trent Nessler holds a bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology, masters in physical therapy and doctorate with a focus in biomechanics and motor learning. He has been treating sport and tactical athletes at all levels for 25+ years and researching injury prevention for 20 years. Dr. Nessler is a published researcher and internationally sought after expert and speaker in the area of movement assessment, ACL rehab, injury prevention and treatment of the combat athlete.
Dr. Nessler is the co-founder and developer of the ViMove+ AMI (Athletic Movement Index). The ViMove+ AMI was developed through Dr. Nessler’s partnership with DorsaVi, a wearable sensor and movement technology company out of Melbourne, Australia. By merging Dr. Nessler’s proprietary movement assessment and knowledge with DorsaVi’s proprietary movement technology, the ViMove+ AMI was born. The first and most comprehensive of its kind, the ViMove+ AMI uses wearable sensors to capture 3500 data points on how a sport or tactical athlete moves with lab quality data in 20 minutes. Since its commercial release in 2017, it has been used to assess 90,000 sport and tactical athletes across 5 countries. This data has help to revolutionize how sports medicine professionals and performance specialist look at movement for return to sport following ACL reconstruction, performance enhancement and injury prevention. The ViMove+ AMI has accelerated what we know about human movement as it relates to human performance, injury prevention and ACL risk. With over 320M data points collected globally, the ViMove+ AMI has become the largest objective movement data base in the world. The data from ViMove+ AMI continues to revolutionized how we clinically treat faulty movement patterns in athletes and led to Dr. Nessler developing the AMI Certification. This certification is for PTs, ATCs, Chiropractors and MDs looking to become certified in the ViMove+ AMI and has been used to certify over 400+ clinicians throughout the US.
Dr. Nessler has used what he is learning about human movement to constantly improve and update how we look at and treat movement dysfunction. This has lead to several commercially released injury prevention programs. Dr. Nessler’s most recognized product, ACL Play It Safe, has been used by athletes all over the US to mitigate risk for an ACL injury and improve overall performance. What Dr. Nessler has learned about ACL rehab and movement also lead to the development and production of The BFR Certification Course. Through Dr. Nessler’s collaboration with Northeast Seminars and UT Chattanooga, this course certifies PTs, ATCs, Chiropractors and strength coaches in the use of Blood Flow Restriction training for use in ACL rehab and performance training.
After 11 years of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) training and receiving the prestigious black belt in BJJ, Dr. Nessler combined his 2 passions, prevention and BJJ. In 2024, Dr. Nessler partnered with Kayezen Vector to develop the Vector Warrior Resiliency Program. This program is designed specifically for grapplers (wrestlers and BJJ) and those participating in military combative or law enforcement defensive tactics training. This is designed to address many of the injuries we see with this type of training and provide athletes with the key targeted strength and endurance programming to address. This program aids in development of hip, knee, ankle, shoulder and spine (cervical to lumbar) mobility needed for this sport as well as building strength and power to improve performance (improved single leg take downs, build explosive arm drags, explosive sit outs and much more). The Vector Warrior Resiliency Program will help you improve your combat readiness and lethality.
Dr. Nessler is a passionate sports physical therapist, sports biomechanist and educator. He has and continues to publish research, speak internationally at sports medicine conferences on the topic of ACL rehab, ACL prevention and movement assessment and is author of How To Build A Badass Firefighter. Dr. Nessler describes himself as a man on a mission, out for the greater good. He has devoted his entire professional career to trying to find solutions to aid in the prevention of injuries in youth athletics which has expanded to sport and tactical athletes. He has a passion for those who serve us and put their lives on the line for all Americans. This drives some of his work with US Military and some of his volunteer work. Dr. Nessler volunteers time and serves time with Aerial Recovery, an international disaster recovery and an anti-trafficking group, as their tactical PT and self defense instructor.
Dr. Nessler is also an accomplished athlete. As a competitive bodybuilder in high school and college he competed on the national stage. After 40+ years, weightlifting is still a huge part of his daily life and will usually be found in the gym at 3:30 AM and on the mats at 530 AM. Out of a passion for getting his son into some form of self defense, he started training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in 2013. On September 11, 2023, Dr. Nessler received his black belt in BJJ under Ray Casias, 4th degree black belt. Today Dr. Nessler serves as the team PT for his gyms competition team as well as local BJJ tournaments.
His most important role is that of husband and parent. Married for 31+ years to the girl of his dreams, he enjoys his time with her exploring the depths of the deep blue ocean. As certified PADI divers, he enjoys their annual diving expeditions and time to enjoy what nature offers. The proud father of 2, he knows God had a plan for him. The son of a quadriplegic father who broke his neck when he was 10 years old (and the reason he became a PT), he is also the father of an amazing special needs daughter and an amazing son who is on the path to be an amazing future physical therapist. In this touching video, Dr. Nessler shares his why behind what he does and talks about how his father’s accident inspired him.
To provide a little insight to some motivations behind the athlete lab, we asked Dr. Nessler the following:
- Why Female Athletes? – my first research project was looking at movement in female soccer players and how to prevent ACL injuries. We did this at Samford University with Andrews Institute, AMSI (American Sports Medicine Institute) and it was one of the most rewarding projects in my career. These young ladies were so appreciative and did absolutely amazing with the program. It was amazing to me what happens when you take the right information, the right data, use that to create the right program and give it to the right athletes, what can be accomplished. We had over an 80% reduction in ACL injuries and 58% reduction in all injuries. This was a key aspect of them going to nationals that year. Years later, one of those athletes was going to PT school and sat in a conference I was presenting at. After giving a lecture at a conference, she came up to me and had no idea, until that lecture that I was the one that put that project and program (1st version of ACL Play It Safe) together. She shared how much that impacted her as an athlete and was one of the things that lead her to go to PT school. You can’t imagine how that impacted me. I will never give that up.
- Late Stage ACL Reconstruction Rehab? – this is really where my wheelhouse is and where I see most physical therapy completely fail. Providing athletes with a program that pushes performance enhancement and sport biomechanics. There is a big need here and it is THE MOST important step prior to return to sport. If this is not addressed and improved, not only is risk for reinjury high but there is also a long lasting impact on future joint health.
- Return To Sport Testing? – ViMove+ AMI obviously. My goal was to create something that could be used for athlete safety and which could help physicians, athletic trainers and physical therapist in making more informed decisions. Never did I imagine the impact that this would have on ACL return to sport, ACL prevention or the impact on our knowledge of sports biomechanics or programming to impact. I am continually amazed at what I have learned and continue learn. My goal is to have the ViMove+ AMI used on over 1M sport and tactical athletes across the world. I am thinking what that level of data can have on shoe development, braces, programming, nutrition and so much more. This is only the beginning.
- Combat Athlete? – well….I’m a black belt, been training 11+ years and am totally addicted. Wanted to give something back to my sport that has given me so much. Honestly, I thought I knew sports biomechanics until I trained BJJ. Over the last 10 years, I have had to learn how to manipulate biomechanics to put the optimal stress on a joint to get a tap or snap. From that came a much greater knowledge how to train to prevent that. The ability to use that with all my athletes is amazing but to bring that to the combat athlete holds a special place in my heart. Why? There is so much application to this knowledge and mitigating risk for injury in law enforcement and military personnel. Enough said.