Research article - (2018)17, 279 - 288
Creatine Supplementation Supports the Rehabilitation of Adolescent Fin Swimmers in Tendon Overuse Injury Cases
Imre Juhasz1,, Judit Plachy Kopkane2, Pal Hajdu3, Gabor Szalay3, Bence Kopper4, Jozsef Tihanyi4
1University of Physical Education, School of Doctoral Studies, Hungary
2University of Miskolc, Faculty of Health Care, Hungary
3Eszterhazy Karoly University of Applied Sciences, Institute of Sport Sciences, Hungary
4University of Physical Education, Hungary

Imre Juhasz
✉ University of Physical Education, School of Doctoral Studies, Hungary
Email: juhasz.imre@uni-miskolc.hu
Received: 22-01-2018 -- Accepted: 10-04-2018
Published (online): 14-05-2018

ABSTRACT

Our purpose was to investigate the effect of creatine (Cr) supplementation on regeneration periods in tendon overuse injury rehabilitation of adolescent fin swimmers. The participants of this study were injured adolescent competitive fin swimmers (n = 18). The subjects were randomly assigned the creatine (CR) or placebo (PL) groups with a double-blind research design. The subjects were given Cr supplementation or received the placebo as part of the conservative treatment of the tendinopathy. We measured the segmental lean mass (SLM;kg), the ankle plantar flexion peak torque (PFT;N·m), the pain intensity (NRS;values), prior to immobilization, after immobilization (R2) and after the 2nd (R4) and 4th (R6) weeks of the rehabilitation period of the injured limb. The creatine kinase (CK; U/L) enzyme levels were measured before immobilization, and then every 24 hours for four days. There was a significant decrease in SLM (CR by 5.6% vs. PL by 8.9%; p < 0.03) after two weeks of immobilization in both groups (p < 0.001). After four weeks rehabilitation the SLM significantly increased in both groups (CR by 5.5% vs. PL by 3.8%; p < 0.01). The percent changes in PFT after supplementation in R4 (p < 0.001) and R6 (p < 0.03) were significantly different between groups. There was a significant percent increase measured in the CR group (R4 by 10.4%; p < 0.001; R6 by 16.8%; p < 0.001), whereas significant, but lower growth found in the PL group also took place (R4 by 7.1%; p < 0.001; R6 by 14.7%; p < 0.001) after four weeks of rehabilitation. Significantly faster decrease were found in NRS of CR versus PL group during treatment (p < 0.02). We detected significantly lower CK levels increase at the CR group compared to the PL group. The results of this study indicate that Cr supplementation combined with therapeutic strategy effectively supports the rehabilitation of tendon overuse injury of adolescent fin swimmers.

Key words: Tendinopathy, pain, therapeutic strategy

Key Points
  • The strategies are of great importance for athletes which can reverse or prevent significant functional deterioration caused by muscular dystrophy.
  • Relatively little data is available regarding young athletes’ creatine supplementation.
  • We first investigated the pain intensity change of overuse tendon damage to alternative treatment strategy in adolescent fin swimmer cases.
  • The limitation of this study is the small sample size. However, our results give some preliminary basis for further research.








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