Does omega-3 help muscles recover after exercise?

It may reduce muscle soreness after hard exercise. A 2026 review pooled 9 placebo-controlled trials of eccentric exercise, in which muscles work while they lengthen. EPA and DHA reduced delayed muscle soreness, creatine kinase (a marker of muscle damage) and muscle swelling, and strength came back better.^[1]

Across all 43 studies in the review, the authors called the effect equivocal, with many problems in study design. They could not say which dose works and called for studies that test doses.^[1]