Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Faculty of Sports and Health Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

² Faculty of Sports and Health Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

³ Aras International Campus of University of Tehran, University of Tehran

What is already known on this subject?

Intensive exercise, particularly in combat sports like taekwondo, induces a transient systemic inflammatory response characterized by elevated circulating cytokines (e.g., IL-6, IL‑10) and muscle damage markers (CPK, CRP). Massage therapy has been proposed to attenuate post‑exercise inflammation through mechanical and neural mechanisms, while Nigella sativa (black seed) oil exhibits anti‑inflammatory and antioxidant properties in vitro and in animal models. However, evidence in elite athletes is sparse, and the potential synergistic effect of combining massage with topical black seed oil on inflammatory biomarkers has not been systematically examined.

What this study adds?

This pilot study provides preliminary, hypothesis‑generating data on the effects of a 3‑week once‑weekly intervention (Swedish massage, topical black seed oil, or their combination) in elite male taekwondo athletes. Despite significant time‑dependent rises in IL‑6 and IL‑10 across all groups no consistent between‑group differences emerged for CRP or CPK. A transient, isolated first‑week difference (higher IL‑6/IL‑10 in the oil‑only vs. combined group) suggests a possible early modulation of cytokine kinetics, but this finding is undermined by the lack of a true control group, a severely underpowered sample (N=12, 4/group), and multiple methodological limitations. The study underscores that in highly conditioned athletes, endogenous recovery mechanisms may overshadow the measurable impact of such recovery modalities, and it highlights the urgent need for adequately powered, randomised controlled trials with serial biomarker sampling and functional outcome measures.

Keywords

• Cellular & Molecular Exercise Physiology

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Taekwondo Federation of Iran and all participating athletes for their support and cooperation during this study.

Funding

The authors declare that they have received no financial support from public, commercial, or non-profit sources.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Compliance with ethical standards

Conflict of interest The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest in the present research.

Ethical approval The study protocol received formal approval from the Ethics Committee of the University of Tehran, International Campus, under approval number (Ethics Code: IR. UT.PSYEDU.REC.1404.075).

Informed consent Animal study. 

Author contributions 

Conceptualization: Conceptualization: P.P.; Methodology: F.D.; Software: S.R.M; Validation: F.Sh.; Formal analysis: F.Sh.; Investigation: P.P.; Resources: F.D.; Data curation: S.R.M.; Writing-original draft: F.Sh.; Writing - review & editing: R.R.M.; Visualization: F.Sh.; Supervision: P.P., F.D.; Project administration: F.Sh.; Funding acquisition: S.R.M.