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Tim Trevail - Jiu-Jitsu Rehab Specialist

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Tim Trevail - Jiu-Jitsu Rehab Specialist

Tim is a musculoskeletal injury expert & educator with a special interest in jiu jitsu and combat sports. IG: More info at TimTrevail.com

Tim consults out of Melbourne Grappling Academy in Moorabbin, and online globally to jiu jitsu athletes of all levels. This page is designed to help you connect with me, find out more about the clinical services available, and other sports and exercise medicine resources I share to help people make sense of their pain and injuries.

Academically, I hold an undergraduate honours degree in Sports Therapy from the UK, a Post-graduate Diploma in Learning and Teaching, a Masters Degree in Sports and Exercise Medicine, and am currently undertaking doctoral studies investigating the links between physical activity and persistent pain. I believe in being guided by the evidence and have a focus on active management (rehabilitation exercise) to ensure long term outcomes that align with the values and goals of the people I work with. I enjoy treating all sporting types, but I particularly enjoy working with jiu-jitsu and other contact sports athletes.

15/10/2026

It's always nice to get a physical copy of something you've contributed to!

My copy of Science and Methodology of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: From Theory to the Mat has arrived, published by Routledge.

I had the pleasure of co-authoring Chapter 13, Rehabilitation and Return to Sport in BJJ, alongside Mike Piekarski.

Our chapter explores how we can better apply evidence-informed rehabilitation principles to the unique physical, technical and psychological demands of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. We focus on criterion-based rehabilitation, progressive loading, sport-specific training modifications and practical decision-making to support a safe and sustainable return to the mats.

The book also joins the Routledge Research in Sport and Exercise Science series, which showcases cutting-edge research from across the sport and exercise sciences.

A big thank you to Rui Miguel Silva for bringing together such a broad range of contributors and to Mike for the collaboration on our chapter.

It's great to see the growing body of research in BJJ being brought together in a resource for researchers, clinicians, coaches and athletes.

📖 More about the book:
https://www.routledge.com/Science-and-Methodology-of-Brazilian-Jiu-Jitsu-From-Theory-to-the-Mat/MiguelSilva/p/book/9781042006236

11/10/2026

Knee injury? Just throw on a knee brace and get back to hard rounds. Problem solved...

Knee braces can have their place, but wearing a brace doesn't develop the physical capacity needed to tolerate the demands of grappling.

Understanding your injury, managing training load, progressive strengthening and gradually returning to full training with sensible training habits will always be the keys to effective rehabilitation.

A knee brace might provide emotional support, but it doesn't replace the work required to build a stronger, more resilient knee.

27/09/2026

The new home of Black Belt Rehab.

Black Belt Rehab is dedicated to the assessment and rehabilitation of grappling athletes, with access to the mats and a fully equipped strength and conditioning space.

As a BJJ black belt with a master’s degree in Sports and Exercise Medicine, it’s been a long-term goal of mine to build a rehabilitation space specifically for grapplers, supporting everything from early acute injury management through to late-stage rehabilitation and return to high performance, all under one roof.

I’m keeping my clinical hours deliberately limited, so only a small number of appointments are available each week. I’m also very happy to refer out to a local network of rehab professionals if greater availability is needed.

More information at timtrevail.com, or book directly via the Calendly link in bio.

📍 Melbourne Grappling Academy

15/09/2026

After 14 years, I've made the difficult decision to finish up at Complete Physio in Richmond.

Complete has been a huge part of my professional life and has shaped the way I practise clinically.

I've always valued the evidence-based approach, the standards the leadership group have have held to and the way they've run the clinic, and it's been good to watch it grow into the practice it is now.

The honest position is that I've had too many things competing for my time and something had to give. Finishing the PhD has to come first, alongside the full time academic work, coaching at MGA, and keeping time for my young family.

I'll always be a big supporter of Complete and the team. If you're anywhere near Richmond and after high quality musculoskeletal rehab, go and see them.

Looking forward to one last hurrah at the Christmas party this year 🍻

Thank you for everything, team.

Complete Physio Richmond

12/09/2026

Turns out there is more to BJJ than button mashing 🎮 🤷

Head over to Learn.Physio to catch Tim Trevail | Jiu-Jitsu Rehab Specialist dropping practical gems on combat sport rehab!

09/09/2026

We need to normalise tapping when the defensive mechanics are lost.

Here, the knee is no longer being protected by movement. It is relying on the passive tensile capacity of the medial knee structures, particularly the MCL.

The MCL is designed to resist valgus loading, but it only has a finite capacity before tissue failure occurs.

Once you stop moving and have no meaningful defence, the ligament becomes the last line of defence.

In this clip, the knee is forced into heavy valgus stress. Once movement stops and there is no meaningful defensive response, the joint is no longer being protected by positioning or escape. It is relying on the passive tensile capacity of the medial knee structures, particularly the MCL.

It's a mistake to wait for pain, hoping the tissue will hold, when the better decision is to recognise that the defensive mechanics are already gone.

Situational awareness is a major part of injury prevention. If you are static, trapped, and the load is still building, do not wait for the pop. Tap before tissue tolerance becomes the deciding factor.

Wishing a speedy recovery to this gentleman.

04/09/2026

The Lower Body BJJ Injuries Practical we recorded for Learn.Physio is now live.

This is the first online professional development resource of its type (that I'm aware of) designed specifically to help physiotherapists and other rehabilitation professionals understand the nuances of working with grappling athletes.

The aim with this practical was to make something useful for the growing number of clinicians working with these athletes, rather than simply discussing theoretical approaches to rehabilitation.

We spend time looking at how lower-limb injuries actually occur in jiu-jitsu, and why the demands can be quite different from the field sports many of us are more familiar with. From there, we work through rehabilitation in the gym, including movement preparation, plyometrics, strength work, and developing the physical qualities needed to tolerate the specific demands of grappling.

We also cover objective testing, some of the limitations of relying too heavily on limb symmetry, psychological readiness, and how to transition back onto the mats using sport-specific return-to-play strategies while managing re-injury risk.

Thanks to Melbourne Grappling Academy for providing the space, and to the athletes who helped us demonstrate everything. Also thanks to Mick Hughes and Learn Physio for giving me the opportunity to put this together.

For those interested in this space, this practical also complements our book chapter 'Rehabilitation and Return to Sport in BJJ' in Routledge's 'Science and Methodology of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu', which is due out next month.

Available now at:
https://www.learn.physio/home

24/08/2026

In competition, your opponent is trying to win. Don’t put your safety in a position where it depends on them making the right decision for you.

If you can be lifted, if your head or neck is becoming a potential landing point, or if you no longer control the position, recognise it early and change the situation.

That does not excuse the slam. The person doing the lifting is still responsible for their actions.

But good injury prevention also means recognising when you have handed control of your safety to someone else.

If you see someone putting their safety in the hands of other people in the training room, call it out. Fix it before a catastrophic injury exposes it.

24/07/2026

Returning to jiu-jitsu after injury should not mean jumping straight from rehabilitation into live rolling.

The control-to-chaos continuum provides a structured way to reintroduce the sport’s demands by progressively increasing resistance, speed, intensity and unpredictability.

At the controlled end, the athlete performs planned movements in a predictable environment with little or no external resistance. As the athlete progresses along the continuum, intensity and resistance increase, predictability decreases, and the demands become more reactive and representative of live rolling.

The progression may include:
- Solo drills: Self-paced BJJ movements with no partner resistance.
- Technical drilling: Known sequences performed with a cooperative partner and gradually increasing resistance.
- Flow training: Continuous, semi-predictable exchanges without finishing submissions.
- Positional sparring: Goal-directed training with defined constraints and increasingly reactive demands.
- Live rolling: Unrestricted training with full scrambles, submissions and maximal uncertainty.

The objective is not to avoid chaos, but to prepare the athlete for it.

Progression should be based on tissue tolerance, physical capacity, confidence and the athlete’s response to each stage, rather than time alone.

Mike Piekarski and I explore this framework in detail in our chapter, “Rehabilitation and Return to Sport in BJJ,” in The Science of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which is expected to be published later this year.

16/07/2026

Coming to the end of my first week coaching at Melbourne Grappling Academy.

I'm loving the energy and atmosphere on the mats already and excited to see the community that we can build together.

Save the date: grand opening August 2nd from 10 a.m.

📸 Thursday 6pm no-gi class

Address

Melbourne, VIC

Opening Hours

Wednesday	5:30pm - 8:30pm
Saturday	8am - 1pm

Website

https://www.timtrevail.com/telehealth

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