Individual responses to pomegranate juice on recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage in collegiate male volleyball players

BACKGROUND: Volleyball demands frequent explosive, stretch-shortening muscle actions that elevate the risk for exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) and delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Polyphenol-rich pomegranate juice (POMj) has been proposed to aid recovery, yet evidence in highly trained team-sport athletes is limited. This study investigated whether short-term POMj enhances functional and isokinetic recovery following an EIMD protocol in collegiate male volleyball players and identified individual responders using the smallest worthwhile change (SWC) method. METHODS: ; MVIC at 45°). DOMS (VAS) was assessed at BL, 0, 12, 24, and 48 h. Repeated-measures ANOVA was used to test condition effects. The SWC was set to 0.2 × SD at BL to classify individual responders. RESULTS: indices (e.g. knee extensor relative peak torque (RPT): ~86% POMj vs. ~64% PLA; absolute peak torque (APT): ~79% vs. ~71%), indicating practically meaningful individual benefits despite null mean differences. CONCLUSIONS: In highly trained male volleyball athletes, short-term POMj did not outperform placebo on group-mean recovery outcomes at 48 h post-EIMD; however, SWC-based analyses showed a higher proportion of meaningful responders with POMj in selected high-velocity isokinetic measures, supporting responder-focused evaluations of recovery nutraceuticals in sport-specific settings.