Hydrogen Therapy Speeds Recovery from Sports Injuries
- Authors
- Sergej M. Ostojic, Boris Vukomanovic, Julio Calleja-Gonzalez, Jay R. Hoffman
- Journal
- Postgraduate Medicine
- Year
- 2014
- DOI
- 10.3810/pgm.2014.09.2813
- Study Type
- Human
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Serbia
- Health Condition
- Soft Tissue Injuries
- Body System
- Musculoskeletal
TL;DR
Adding hydrogen treatment to regular care for sports injuries may speed up athletes' recovery.
Key Finding
Athletes who received both oral and topical hydrogen therapy combined with standard treatment recovered joint range of motion faster than those receiving standard treatment alone.
Summary
This pilot study tested whether hydrogen supplements could help professional athletes recover faster from acute soft tissue injuries like sprains and strains. Thirty-six male athletes received either standard injury treatment alone, standard treatment plus oral hydrogen tablets, or standard treatment plus both oral hydrogen tablets and topical hydrogen packs applied to the injury. After 2 weeks, athletes who received both oral and topical hydrogen showed faster recovery of joint movement and better blood flow markers compared to the control group.
Practical Takeaway
This small pilot study suggests that adding hydrogen therapy to conventional injury treatment may speed recovery in professional athletes, but the findings are preliminary and limited to a single season with a small group. Larger, longer studies would be needed to confirm whether hydrogen is truly effective and to determine the best way to use it for sports injuries.
Abstract
Background: Because hydrogen therapy has been found beneficial for the treatment of inflammation, ischemia-reperfusion injury, and oxidative stress in humans, it seems useful to evaluate the effects of exogenously administered hydrogen as an element in the immediate management of sports-related soft tissue injuries. The main aim of this pilot study was to examine the effects of 2-week administration of hydrogen on the biochemical markers of inflammation and functional recovery in male professional athletes after acute soft tissue injury. Method: During the 2013 season (from March to May), 36 professional athletes were recruited as participants and examined by a certified sports medicine specialist in the first 24 hours after an injury was sustained. Subjects were allocated to 3 randomly assigned trials in a single-blind design. Those in the control group received a traditional treatment protocol for soft tissue injury. Subjects in the first experimental group followed the same procedures as the control group but with additional administration throughout the study of oral hydrogen-rich tablets (2 g per day). Subjects in the second experimental group also followed the procedures of the control group, with additional administration throughout the study of both oral hydrogen-rich tablets (2 g per day) and topical hydrogen-rich packs (6 times per day for 20 minutes). Participants were evaluated at the time of the injury report and at 7 and 14 days after baseline testing. Results: Oral and topical hydrogen intervention was found to augment plasma viscosity decrease as compared with the control group (P = 0.04). Differences were found for range-of-motion recovery between the 3 groups; oral and topical hydrogen intervention resulted in a faster return to normal joint range of motion for both flexion and extension of the injured limb as compared with the control intervention (P < 0.05). Conclusion: These preliminary results support the hypothesis that the addition of hydrogen to traditional treatment protocols is potentially effective in the treatment of soft tissue injuries in male professional athletes. Trial identification: Clinicaltrials.gov number NCT01759498.