Is arnica effective in relieving exercise-induced muscle pain?

One RCT assessed the effect of arnica gel (1 gram of gel containing Arnica montana tincture equivalent to 10 mg of dry flowering herb) on delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and performance in well-trained males subjected to intense eccentric exercise. Although arnica did not show any significant effect on performance, or on blood markers of muscle damage (i.e., creatine kinase, myoglobin, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, interleukin 1-beta, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha), it did reduce pain 72 hours after exercise compared to the placebo group.^[1]