Skip to main content

CLINICAL TRIAL article

Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1488821

Ten days of supplementation with a standardized Boswellia serrata extract attenuates soreness and accelerates recovery after repeated bouts of downhill running in recreationally active men

Provisionally accepted
Dawna Salter Dawna Salter 1*Himana Yalamanchi Himana Yalamanchi 2Aiswarya Yalamanchi Aiswarya Yalamanchi 2Amulya Yalamanchi Amulya Yalamanchi 2
  • 1 PLT Health Solutions, Morristown, United States
  • 2 Department of General Medicine, Yalamanchi Hospital and Research Centre, Andhra Pradesh, India

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Extracts derived from Indian Frankincense (Boswellia serrata) effectively reduce the pain and swelling associated with osteoarthritis. It is unknown if the anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties of B. serrata extend to muscle and joint pain resulting from high-impact eccentric exercise. This pilot study evaluated the efficacy of a standardized B. serrata extract LI51202F1 (SBS) to decrease soreness and improve recovery after repeated bouts of downhill running (DHR) compared to placebo (PLA). Fifty men (mean age 28 ± 4) were randomly allocated to consume 60 mg SBS or PLA once per day for 10 days (6 days before, the day of, and 3 days after DHR). On day 7, delayed soreness was induced by three 15-minute DHR episodes on a 10% declined treadmill. Visual analog scale (VAS) scores of joint and muscle soreness in addition to the maximal weight lifted for a one-repetition leg extension (1RM-LE) were assessed at baseline (pre-supplementation) and on days 8, 9, and 10. Blood and urine samples collected at baseline, before, and after DHR were analyzed for inflammation-related biomarkers. VAS scores significantly increased while muscle strength decreased from baseline measures after DHR regardless of group assignment (main effect of time p<0.001). However, supplemented subjects reported reduced muscle soreness on days 8, 9, and 10 compared to PLA. On day 9, peak soreness scores were lower in SBS than in PLA (p=0.001). On day 10, SBS VAS scores were 8.0 ± 1.6 mm lower than PLA (p<0.001). Supplementation improved recovery time as the 1RM-LE returned to baseline strength by day 10, with subjects lifting 3.4 ± 1.2 kg more than PLA (p=0.006). SBS-supplemented subjects reported less knee joint pain after DHR than PLA (p<0.05 on days 8, 9, and 10). C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 increased after DHR, but by day 10 SBS reduced these markers compared to PLA (p<0.05).This study suggests that SBS, a novel, standardized extract derived from the gum resin of Boswellia Serrata, improves recovery and reduces soreness following high-impact eccentric exercise.Clinical Trial Registration: Clinical Trial Registry of India (CRTI) CTRI/2019/07/020323.

    Keywords: DOMS 1, exercise-induced muscle damage 2, myalgia 3, inflammation 4, recovery 5, dietary supplement 6

    Received: 30 Aug 2024; Accepted: 02 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Salter, Yalamanchi, Yalamanchi and Yalamanchi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Dawna Salter, PLT Health Solutions, Morristown, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.