Branched Chain Amino Acids Help Muscle Recovery

by | Apr 18, 2013 | 2012, Amino Acids, Branched Chain Amino Acids, Fitness and Exercise

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Men given 20 grams of branched chain amino acids had 50% less muscle soreness after drop-jump testing.

When muscles are used during exercise, they go through a range of motion that has them constantly lengthening (eccentric contractions) and shortening (concentric contractions). Of the two movements, eccentric contractions put much more stress on the muscle than concentric contractions (1,2), resulting in exercise-induced muscle damage that can last several days (3).

Exercise-induced muscle damage hinders muscle function, reduces the range of motion, increases muscle soreness and swelling (4,5), compromising overall exercise performance. As a result, ways to help exercise-induced muscle soreness is very important. Now a new study (6) suggests that branched chain amino acids, a group of essential amino acids (not made by the body in sufficient amounts) is important in protein synthesis and may help with muscle recovery.(7)

In the study, 12 men between the ages of 21 and 25, were given either 20 grams of branched chain amino acids (10 grams taken twice per day) or a placebo for 12 days and then asked to perform 100 drop-jumps. The subjects continued to take the branched chain amino acids or placebo for the next 4 days while measurements of muscle damage were taken, including blood samples, measuring maximum muscle contraction, and having the subject report muscle soreness by marking a 200-millimeter pain scale used in previous research (8).

The researchers found “significant” benefit for all the measurements in the branched chain amino acid group compared to the placebo group. Compared to the placebo group, those in the amino acid group had:

  • 23.5% lower levels of creatine kinase (310 vs. 400 units/micro-liter,p<0.05), a measure of muscle breakdown, after day 1, but equal levels on days 2, 3, and 4.
  • 50% lower levels of muscle soreness after day 1 (100 vs. 150 millimeters), 23% lower levels after day 2 (125 vs. 162 millimeters), and 25% lower levels on day 3 (75 vs .100 millimeters) before settling to identical levels on day 4 (p < 0.05)
  • An 18% decrease in maximum muscle contraction after day 1 compared to a 27% decrease in the placebo group, 10% vs. 18% decrease after day 2, 4% vs .12% decrease after day 3, and no decrease after day 4 (p < 0.05)
  • A 7.2% decrease in vertical jump after day 1 (61.8 to 57.4 centimeters) compared to a 8.7% decrease in the placebo group (65.3 to 60.3 centimeters), 5.9% vs. 5.9% decrease after day 2, 2.2% vs .3.1% decrease after day 3, and a 0.8% increase after day 4 compared to a 1.9% decrease in the placebo group (p < 0.05).

For the researchers, “The present study has shown that branch chain amino acids administered before and following damaging resistance exercise reduces indices of muscle damage and accelerates recovery in resistance-trained males.”

Source: Howatson, Glyn, et al. “Exercise-induced muscle damage is reduced in resistance-trained males by branched chain amino acids: a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study.” Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 9.1 (2012): 20.

© 2012 Howatson et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. CreativeCommons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

Click here to read the full text study.

Posted April 18, 2013.

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY.  You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com

References:

  1. Adams GR, Cheng DC, Haddad F, Baldwin KM: Skeletal muscle hypertrophy in response to isometric, lengthening, and shortening training bouts of equivalent duration. J Appl Physiol 2004, 96:1613–1618.
  2. Higbie EJ, Cureton KJ, Warren GL 3rd, Prior BM: Effects of concentric and eccentric training on muscle strength, cross-sectional area, and neural activation. J Appl Physiol 1996, 81:2173–2181.
  3. Howatson G, van Someren KA: The prevention and treatment of exercise-induced muscle damage. Sports Med 2008, 38:483–503
  4. Howatson G, Hough P, Pattison J, Hill JA, Blagrove R, Glaister M, Thompson KG: Trekking poles reduce exercise-induced muscle injury during mountain walking. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2010, 43:140–145.
  5. Paschalis V, Nikolaidis MG, Giakas G, Jamurtas AZ, Pappas A, Koutedakis Y: The effect of eccentric exercise on position sense and joint reaction angle of the lower limbs. Muscle Nerve 2007, 35:496–503
  6. Howatson G. Exercise-induced muscle damage is reduced in resistance-trained males by branched chain amino acids: a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2012 May 8;9(1):20
  7. Breen L, Philp A, Witard OC, Jackman SR, Selby A, Smith K, Baar K, Tipton KD: The influence of carbohydrate-protein co-ingestion following endurance exercise on myofibrillar and mitochondrial protein synthesis. J Physiol 2011, 589:4011–4025.
  8. Miyama M, Nosaka K: Influence of surface on muscle damage and soreness induced by consecutive drop jumps. J Strength Cond Res 2004;18:206–211.