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Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
For the past six weeks, in order to be fit in time for the start of the 2021 Six Nations, Alun Wyn Jones has been spending part of each day inside a hyperbaric chamber at his house. “It’s like a small tent,” explains Paul Stridgeon, Wales’ head of physical performance, describing the space which, for the 6ft 6in Jones, has recently become a slightly cramped second home.
Jones suffered a knee injury in Wales’ final match of last year’s Autumn Nations Cup and has diligently spent each day since focusing on his recovery in order to be ready to face Ireland on Sunday.
Talking to Stridgeon, if there is anyone you would back to utterly devote themselves to every aspect of the recovery process in order to be ready in time for a tournament, it would be the lock who is now the most-capped player in world rugby history. Partly because Jones has successfully recovered to play in Six Nations tournaments and even a British and Irish Lions tour in the past.
“He’s kitted out a full gym in his garage, which is fantastic for his training,” Stridgeon said. “There’s a watt bike, an assault bike in there, plenty of weights and a rack. He also has hot and cold baths in his house. And for this particular injury, we gave him the hyperbaric chamber. You lie in it and it increases the amount of oxygen your blood can carry, which improves recovery time and helps him with the injury. We hired that for him and it has been in his house for the last six weeks. That’s helped with his return.”
Unsurprisingly, given he has been playing Test rugby consistently now for 15 years, Jones has accumulated an impressive catalogue of injuries which, while serious, have never seen him miss an entire season.
There have been multiple shoulder and knee injuries, a dislocated toe, a fractured elbow. In 2016 he finished the Six Nations with an injury to each foot, the plantar fasciitis (heel) on the left, plus Achilles tendonitis on the right, candidly admitting in an interview at the time that he played through both issues for the best part of three months.