Ulster centre Darren Cave has revealed the unconventional treatment process he is utilising in a bid to recover from the fractured thumb he suffered earlier this year.
Cave suffered a significant hand injury while playing against Munster last month. His club announced that they expect to be without the 31-year-old for eight weeks.
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For those who don't know, Darren Cave is a remarkably open and interesting athlete. He recently appeared on the Rugby Pod and was fascinating on numerous topics including nationality and the work currently being done within Ulster. In the past, he has detailed cryotherapy treatment on his Instagram as well as his coffee business, Guilt Trip Coffee. On Wednesday, he released footage of the uncommon "mirror box therapy" which he has utilised recently.
Mirror therapy gained recognition after a Ted Talk ten years ago. It was a method used by military hospitals to treat amputees which resulted in 100% of 22 patients reporting a decrease in pain. It is a bid to exploit the brain’s preference to prioritise visual feedback. Evidence varies on its effectiveness, with a 'Current Opinions in Anesthesiology' report suggesting the benefit is limited to those suffering from cramps and muscular-type phantom pain.
Cave is certainly not using this technique in isolation and discussed the intricacies of his injury during the aforementioned podcast appearance: "It was broken in four places, so there are some wires in there, hooks still in there trying to let it heal for a bit."
Nevertheless, it is a remarkable insight into the alternative means a professional athlete will recruit in a bid to assist recovery.
You can listen to that interview in full here.
