Research
Energy balance
Creatine supplementation reduces the incidence of musculoskeletal injuries, dehydration, and muscle cramping in athletes during training and competition.
If you are a team sport athlete, taking creatine may help you stay healthier by reducing cramps and injuries. It is safe and well-tolerated.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Several studies have reported that creatine supplementation during training and/or competition either has no effect or reduces the incidence of musculoskeletal injury, dehydration, and/or muscle cramping... creatine users experienced less incidence of cramping, heat illness/dehydration, muscle tightness, muscle strains/pulls, non-contact injuries, and total injuries/missed practices than those not taking creatine
Why this rating
Based on multiple studies cited in the position stand, though not as universally robust as the performance data.
Source
International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine
Richard B. Kreider et al. · Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2017
DOI 10.1186/s12970-017-0173-z
narrative_reviewCited 797×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Creatine monohydrate supplementation (5g/day for 5-7 days, followed by 3-5g/day maintenance) significantly increases intramuscular creatine and phosphocreatine stores, leading to enhanced high-intensity exercise performance, greater training adaptations, and increased lean body mass in athletes.Strong
- Creatine supplementation has potential therapeutic benefits in various clinical populations, including neurodegenerative diseases, creatine synthesis deficiencies, and brain/spinal cord injury.Good
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