An exercise routine that one is not used to can cause inflammation, oxidative stress, and resulting soreness.
In a study, 28 healthy subjects that did not participate in resistance training were randomly assigned to receive curcumin (400 mg/day) for two days before and four days after participating in an exercise designed to induce muscle soreness. The findings demonstrated that the consumption of curcumin reduced biological inflammation, but not subjective quadriceps muscle soreness during recovery from exercise. This may help to decrease recovery time, thus improving performance during subsequent exercise sessions.
Reference:
Sharma, R., et al. (2004). Phase I clinical trial of oral curcumin: biomarkers of systemic activity and compliance. Clinical Cancer Research, vol. 10, 6847–6854.
