Australia cricket coach Darren Lehmann summed up the ever increasing role of science in professional sport when he observed: “They used to put the beers on ice, now they put the players in it.”

He was, of course, referring to the near ubiquitous practice that has sprung up in the last 20 years of athletes recovering from a strenuous bout of exercise by submerging themselves in cruelly cold ice baths.

New research, however, suggests the treatment may not be that scientific after all.

Trials conducted by the Queensland University of Technology found that ice baths barely do anything to reduce post-exercise muscle inflammation.