Introduction: Any traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) may cause symptoms ranging from pain to complete loss of motor and sensory functions below the level of the injury. Despite of many advances in surgical techniques, treatment of SCI remains as a complex issue. Reduction of the initial inflammatory processes by creation of framework is suggested as a possible novel treatment. The aim of this study was evaluation of the effect of curcumin on the improvement of behavioral movement in rat contusion model in acute phase. Materials and Methods: In this in vivo study, rats were randomly assigned to experimental, laminectomy, sham operated (normal saline injected) and treatment groups. In treatment groups, the rats received daily intraperitoneal injection of curcumin (70, 60, 50, or 40 mg/ml/kg) at 6 h after the SCI. Spinal cord injury was performed by a standard procedure. After shaving, laminectomy was performed at T12-L1 level and the exposed spinal cord was exposed a 10 gram metal rod with a 2 mm diameter dropped from a height of 25 mm. The locomotor function was assessed by Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (BBB) test for 12 weeks. Three months after SCI, the spinal cords were evaluated by morphometric, glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP) expression, and the axonal regeneration. Results: Immunohistochemical staining and BBB test scores of spinal cord injured rats treated with curcumin were significantly improved at day 7 compared to sham rats. The level of GFAP was significantly decreased in curcumin treated group compared to sham group. Optimal dose of curcumin was 60 mg/ml/kg 6 h after SCI. Conclusion: The data demonstrate that curcumin improves behavioral movement in acute phase of SCI, possibly via the enhancement of axonal regeneration and reduction of astrogloisis.