Sub-zero 2am plunges and a little help from Leeds – How Sheffield Wednesday have gone about shaking off whirlwind fortnight

“You don’t want that,” he smirks in warning – though one or two of his teammates might have more devilish advice to give after reading some of the harsher player ratings of recent outings.

“It’s horrible. You get back from an away game at whatever time and you have to dive in there. If it's something that can give you that marginal gain then it's something you have to do but it's certainly not nice - I much prefer the steam room and all that stuff.”

Piling off the bus in the early hours to expose of your body to liquid nitrogen in subzero temperatures, typically between -100 and -140 degrees Celsius? They used to play eight times a week and drink 40 pints of mild inbetween in Hirsty’s day you know.

Those days are long gone and sports science is a driver in every single day at a modern professional football club; on selection, training programme and routine.

In periods such as the one Wednesday are currently battling – a depleted Owls squad will have played seven matches in 25 days by the time their date with Accrington Stanley is through on Monday evening – it becomes all the more important, increased focus placed on the data accrued by an Owls medical department swollen in numbers this season.

But responsibility is loaded on the players themselves to manage their bodies. Away from training hours, though strong advice and planning is offered, it is the players that control how they go about their rest and recovery schedules, with their bodies telling the story of where they’re at when assessed regularly at Middlewood Road.

“It's all closely monitored,” Palmer told The Star. “They're forever looking at data in every session and everything is geared around maximising what you can do on a Saturday.

“When the fixtures have been like what they've been like, your rest and recovery is a massive part. I started swimming recently. I'm terrible at it! It's low weight bearing obviously and it really helps me, but it's so individual to your body and what works for you.”

It’s been well publicised that Wednesday have engaged the use of a yoga teacher to increase flexibility and muscle stamina and Rob Lee, brought in by Darren Moore from his old club Doncaster Rovers to make tweaks and changes to the way the club operate the sports science aspect of the club, is a popular figure behind the scenes.

It’s the little things that often make all the difference, the ‘marginal gains’ Palmer describes adding up beyond the ‘one per cent’.

A world-renowned sports psychologist is available to Wednesday players as and when they feel they should need that level of expertise. Tom Bates has worked at a number of Premier League clubs and has travelled the world drinking in the expertise at different football clubs including Barcelona.

A UEFA A-License holder, he was brought in by Darren Moore last season after the two had spent time together at the outset of their coaching journeys at West Brom over a decade ago.

Some players have had Recovery Pumps delivered to their homes, compression devices which speed up recovery by increasing blood flow intermittently and encourage muscle recovery. Late evenings watching television with legs wrapped in these devices are commonplace.

This may well draw a sharp intake of breath up the M1, but Wednesday have enlisted the help of students from Leeds – they’re believed to be from Leeds Beckett University – to assist with the recovery of their players during busier periods of their title charge.

“It’s about having those extra hands,” Moore said. “We have these quick turnarounds and the players, when they’re having their rub-downs, those extra hands mean we can have longer time spent on them. With such quick turnarounds it’s about aiding recovery and that’s why we got them in.

“We’re grateful for them and that’s something we’ve done throughout the season when we’ve had a build-up of games.

“It takes 20 minutes or half an hour if you’re doing it properly and what they’re doing is flushing the legs out of lactic acid and it removes some of that soreness. You need that to be ready for the next game.

“It works. It helps us manage those muscles and gets the players supple and ready.”

The comeback trails of big players will be watched closely in the coming weeks. And while the facilities available to Wednesday players doesn’t quite measure up to the multi-million pound stuff available to those at the very top of the game, they’ve been given every chance, said Palmer.

“We've got the cryochamber at the club, we've got the hot baths, cold baths, recovery pumps,” he said. “You have to find what works for you and be consistent with the detail.

“There's knocks and niggles along the way but the medical staff and the sports science team have been working all hours. We've had extra masseurs come in from different universities in order to help us get sorted as quickly as possible. But it's up to us to maximise all that's available to us and use our time wisely.”

Football has changed. As Wednesday look to step out of their whirlwind form funk ahead of a trip to Oxford and the welcoming of Accrington Stanley, every strand of expertise will be tugged at; be that newfangled machinery, late night temperature plunges or the hands of students from Leeds.

The journalists will stay well away from the Cryochambers, thankyou very much. Just as the pints of mild will stay firmly in Hirsty’s era.

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