On May 2, Leicester City FC won the English Premier League title, completing their Cinderella story season. While most give the manager and players the majority of the credit (and rightfully so), there was a lot of science behind the magic of this feat that should be given its proper respect.
The Foxes claimed the title thanks to a core group of players, including the likes of Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kanté. Leicester had fewer injuries than any other team in the Premier League and they used the least amount of players of any team throughout the season.
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So what was the key to keeping their starting 11 healthy and off of the injury report?
Leicester decided to get a permanent cryotherapy unit from UK-based CryoAction before this season started.
Essentially, a player will enter a cryotherapy chamber after a workout, practice or game, and be blasted by air cooled by liquid nitrogen. The air comes out at temperatures between -120 C and -160 C, and players stand in there for usually around three minutes.
Cryotherapy is the same concept as taking an ice bath after a workout, but its effects appear to be much more powerful than merely jumping in a cold bath. It promotes rapid muscle recovery, relieves joint pain and helps with inflammation, among other things.
With this, Leicester players are able to recover from training much faster, and avoid injuries from having tired or tight muscles.
“We get big hormonal changes from the players, big changes in moods, and obviously the big thing from my side of things, from rehabilitation, is the ability to shut down a lot of the acute soft tissue injuries much faster than we would have been before,” said Leicester head physiotherapist Dave Rennie.
The only other Premier League team to use it this season was Watford FC, who are set to finish middle of the pack—this being their first season in the Premier League, having been promoted from the Football League Championship after last season.
Here is a video filmed before the season with Leicester City’s Head Physiotherapist, Dave Rennie, discussing how the club uses CryAction to train.