Alabama is sparing no expense when it comes to updating its new athletic facilities.
$600 million over the next decade if we’re being exact.
Besides luxury seating and flashy new locker rooms, the Crimson Tide have stressed the mindset of applying a significant amount of time and dollars to player recovery and health.
One of the new innovations the team will have at its disposal is brand new sensory deprivation chambers.
Last week, Director of Sports Medicine Jeff Allen took the public on a virtual tour of the new chambers while explaining the benefits the players will be able to receive from utilizing the new recovery technology.
Bama Sports Science: Episode Five
Sensory Deprivation#BamaFactor #RollTide pic.twitter.com/Tn0n8MYsmR
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) July 31, 2020
The purpose of these state of the art chambers is to help an athlete’s body transition out of its working phase into a more relaxed, meditative phase which promotes recovery. Each player who lays down into the chamber is supported by what essentially is a mattress full of warm water.
Alabama offensive lineman Evan Neal participated in the video and applauded the new chamber’s services.
“It feels amazing. As far as training goes, it takes pressure off my back,” said Neal. “It’s really good for recovery in my opinion. I like to come in here after workouts and what not and just, you know, just take a couple minutes to sit down and relax. Like I said this relives a lot of strain and pressure off my back. I’m really grateful that we have these.”
Alabama is one of the first schools to explore this kind of machinery, which has been one of the main goals of the athletic department.
“We were incredibly strategic with how we planned what we wanted to go into our sports science center when it comes to recovery,” said Allen. “We wanted things that no doubt had physiological benefits for our athletes, something that we knew would help them. It would have been really easy I think for us to just build a room full of nap beds or nap rooms and that would have been ok.
“But we wanted to try to take it a step above and do something unique and I think we’ve done that. We’re really excited about the opportunity to use this.”
The new chambers will be a welcomed addition to the facilities as it joins the multiple recovery pools, state of the art weight room and the zero-gravity treadmills.
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
