The effects of creatine supplementation: A review with special regards to ballgames

Abstract

This short review is based on general knowledge and guidelines about creatine metabolism and supplementation (CS). These principles provide the starting point for an attempt at inferring the theoretical effects in ballgames with their specific workload profiles. The self-reported prevalence of creatine use in game players ranges from 2% in female volleyball players to 71% in male American football players. A search on the PubMed database for relevant articles related to ballgames resulted in 18 hits, all published in the last 5 years (soccer 6, American football 5, tennis 2, handball 2, ice hockey 1, squash 1, softball 1). It is critical that the authors of those articles measure basic conditional aspects in the first place. Only 5 articles try to investigate the effects of CS under test conditions specifically designed for ballgames. Six of 10 studies showed that a short-term creatine loading results in an improvement of the intermittent sprint performance, while 4 studies failed to measure any shortterm effects at all. Longitudinal training studies with game players uniquely came to the conclusion that CS combined with resistance and sprint conditioning improves strength and power at a higher rate than the respective training routine without supplementation. We conclude that CS increases the basic conditional performance of game players when combined with a specific training period. Nevertheless, a careless use of creatine on a regular basis is not advisable, since the transfer on the ballgame competition performance of these effects has not yet been clarified sufficiently. It also varies depending on the workload profile of the game and the player's individual physical conditions and demands.

Keywords:

• creatine/phosphocreatine shuttle
• muscle hypertrophy
• intermit-tent sprint performance
• ballgames
• specific tests