Effect of Short-Term Consumption of Herbal Supplementation on Markers of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness Subsequent to Complex Exercise

Background: Choosing an appropriate protocol of exercise and suitable supplement for the athletes preparation in order for approaching better results and desirable implementation of sports skills has a long historical background among athletes and coaches. To achieve optimal physical and motor fitness and make effective adaptations for boosting athletic performance, different body systems should be involved in overload pressure. Since the different body systems are involved through Complex exercises, so it has been nominated as a dominant training method among athletes and coaches through recent decades. Through this protocol of exercise, athletes muscles are been suffered in terms of muscle fatigue. In such situations, the term recovery and elimination of muscle damage indicators from blood and muscle tissue, count as a vital issue, while the potential role of nutritional supplements to equalization the state of body homeostasis among athletes, mustn’t be ignored. According to the various undesirable effects of chemical supplements and their side effects, and The inability of these drugs to cure many diseases, a lot of attentions has been went through herbal supplements. Regarding that Thyme supplementation has got a role in reducing muscle damage indicators and it’s anti-inflammatory effects that has reported, however there are scattered and scarce data in this field, Therefore, this study aimed at investigation the Effect of Short-Term Consumption of Thyme Supplement on Markers of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness Subsequent to Complex Exercise. Methods : Through a semi experimental research and repeated measures, 20 healthy elite basketball players (age range 19-26) has been choose randomly in homogenized groups .After 14 days of Thyme supplementation loading, an exhausting session of complex exercise ( %80 of one maximum repetition, combination of plyometric and resistance training through subsequent sets) was performed by the volunteered through 1 bout. 60 seconds of rest was exerted for both groups among the sets and 3 minutes of rest between the exercises. DOMS indicators were determined in 4 stages in a way of 14 days before Protocol implementation, 30 minutes before Protocol implementation, immediately after protocol onset and 48h after Protocol implementation. Data’s were expressed as mean(±SD) and analyzed by bifactor repeated measure ANOVA, Bonfroni and independent sample T-test for comparing the result of two group in different types in various times at p≤0.05. All statistical assessments were assessed by SPSS software (21v). Results : Results shows that there was a significant increase in CK, LDH and 3-MH after complex training in both groups, even in placebo group it didn’t reached the basic levels after 48 hours of recovery time, but in Thyme group both enzymes were reached to the post-test amounts. Thyme supplement has limited LDH enzyme secretion immediately after complex exercise but significantly but it was lower than the post exercise amounts. Thyme consumption doesn’t relief the muscle pain in any time of intervention and expresses the same effects with placebo. Conclusion: Totally, results show that Thyme consumption would lead to prevention of Negative symptoms (DOMS) of subsequent complex exercise, so it is recommended to use 30mg of it (2 serving) per day before doing complex exercises.