Driver hopes big freeze at Hearts aids recovery

ANDREW DRIVER believes that being frozen out of the game will help him back to regular first-team football by Christmas.

As revealed in the Evening News yesterday, the winger has been receiving cryotherapy treatment in a bid to rid him of a troublesome thigh injury.

It is hoped that the procedure, which uses extreme cold to freeze and destroy damaged tissue, will allow him to return to the first-team squad by December.

Driver, who also underwent surgery in June to cure a problem with defective collagen, said: "The chamber is just outside London and I think it is one of only two in the country. I first went there when I was with the England Under-21 squad a couple of summers ago and I felt good then so I thought I would give it another try.

"You go into the first room, which is minus 60, and you stay in there for 30 seconds.

"Then you go into a second room where it is minus 120 and you are in there for three minutes.

"Basically, it is the same as putting ice on you but it is your full body and when you come out your blood is flying around, you feel like you could run a marathon. Hopefully it has brought my rehab on."