Don't know if this has been done before but there is an article on the BBC website lifted from the Chronic which praises Sam's use of Sports Science to improve our injury list. Apparently Kaboul missed over 40% of the season but Sam got him fit and he played nine consecutive games for the first time since 2010. Anyone clever enough to bring it up on the forum, it's worth a read and not too long. It's part of the BBC sportsday section. Any takers?
The true extent of the improvements Sam Allardyce made to improve Sunderland’s injury record has been revealed. Sunderland went from being one of the worst affected clubs by injuries in January to one of the least affected overall by the end of the campaign as the Black Cats boss implemented a number of changes at the club to improve matters. A big fan of the latest sports science developments, Big Sam immediately set to work on ensuring that the injuries that plagued their first half of the campaign were not an issue during the important stages of the relegation run-in. In particular, injuries to Younes Kaboul, John O’Shea, Lee Cattermole and Seb Larsson had negative bearings on the Black Cats’ first half of the campaign. Speaking on those changes just before his side’s crucial clash with Chelsea, Allardyce said: “These players are fitter than they have ever been and reduced our injury list dramatically. “Our changes in the sports science area have made a big difference. We have players available for selection week-in, week-out. When I first started, we didn’t have. “The level of performance was far less than it is now.” In January, figures released by physioroom.co.uk showed that Sunderland had the joint-second worst record for injuries at that point in the 2015-16 campaign. Allardyce has helped to completely transform that statistic, however, with only five teams having less injuries than the Black Cats - according to data released by injuryleague.com. Injury League’s report shows that only four Sunderland players missed more than a quarter of the season - with Younes Kaboul and Adam Matthews having the worst record after each missing 45% of the season while on the treatment table. Kaboul, incidentally, was one of the players to clearly benefit from Allardyce’s introduction of various sports science equipment. After returning from injury in March, the French centre-back played a key role in nine of the Black Cats’ final ten fixtures - only missing the final day game at Watford after safety was assured. That’s the longest run of consecutive games that Kaboul has started since 2010. Sunderland are 14th in Injury League’s worst affected by injuries table which is worked out by scoring a point to each side for every player who misses a week of the season. Only Swansea, Leicester, Norwich, West Brom and Watford ended the season with better injury records - which shows the turnaround Allardyce made in such a short space of time. And he’ll be hoping that with a full pre-season that injury record can improve further still next season as he plans to lead Sunderland to a comfortable mid-table finish in the upcoming season.
It's that ****ing cry chamber they've got. It heals your muscles quicker. It's what Leicester do. A tank where the water is -140 degrees.
Well we went from 9 injuries to none with the introduction of that & the players swear by it. Then again I know **** all about this stuff. Just reading what the players have said about it mate.
Because it takes away pain, it's probably getting rave reviews from players, but it has no positive affect on healing and recovery, it's believed it's actually detrimental to both. Inflammation occurs naturally in the human body and stopping this is only going to make things worse. There's evidence to suggest that it could be used in conjunction with other alternative therapies eventually but for now, it's just a fad. I'd imagine you've upped your game with regards to strength training and the training sessions are more intense now under Allardyce's guidance. Like I said in my first post, people who are stronger and fitter get injured less.
Evidence shows that it does aid recovery and reduces swelling and bruising far more than anything that has gone before, including ice baths. These are being used by many of the top athletes these days..
The human body's biological response to damaged tissue is to inflame, it's a natural occurrence. There's no way a glorified ice bath is more advanced than the human body. What it does, is it stops inflammation and it forces lactic acid out of tired muscles, which takes away the pain and the swelling. The muscle then doesn't have a chance to learn (muscle memory) and does not complete the healing/rebuilding process that should occur naturally. It has never been proven to aid recovery, it has only been proven to aid the pain associated with fatigued muscles, there's a massive difference. A good diet will do a million times more for natural muscle recovery than this machine.
Putting cold on swellings etc has been a recognised treatment for decades..This is just taking it to a new level..
Recognised treatment for pain, for sure. If you've got a bad back and you're in agony the last thing you care about is making sure your muscles recover. It's never 'cured' a damaged muscle, not once, in the history of mankind.
Do you think there could be an element of the placebo effect about it? The human mind is an amazing thing but an injury is an injury. Having said that there might be players who aren't helping themselves mentally, Klopp said something about Sturridge being "injured in his mind" I think.
