I have seen rugby league players wearing skins during games. Mainly the big forwards, but as I understand it they are used by players in their more injury prone areas. I suppose its similar to the way we strap our hands and some people strap their ankles. One of my friends plays league and he wears skins on his thighs under his shorts because of his position his thighs get a beating, they also use this machine for training that you stand on and do bodyweight exercises on like pushups that vibrates and is supposed to increase the intensity of the exercises by increasing your gravity. I havent read any research on it and cant remember what its called but I tried it at the football club and if it didnt cost several thousand dollars I would buy one myself.
I have also tried laser and its fantastic and I got an infared sauna and it seems to work really well for me and Im a sucker for the thai liniment but it may just be that I like the smell of it:)