ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 1999 September;39(3):189-96

Copyright © 2000 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Oral creatine supplementation improves multiple sprint performance in elite ice-hockey players

Jones A. M., Atter T., Georg K. P.

Department of Exercise and Sport Science, Crewe and Alsager Faculty, the Manchester Metropolitan University, Hassal Road, Alsager, UK

Background. The pur­pose of ­this ­study was to ­assess the ­effect of ­oral crea­tine mono­hy­drate sup­ple­men­ta­tion on mul­ti­ple ­sprint ­cycle and skat­ing per­for­mance in ice-hock­ey ­players.
Methods. Participants: six­teen ­elite ice-hock­ey ­players ­were select­ed as sub­jects. Experimental ­design: sub­jects ­were ran­dom­ly ­assigned to ­either a crea­tine (Cr) (n=8) or a pla­ce­bo (P) ­group (n=8) in a dou­ble ­blind ­design. After famil­iar­isa­tion and base­line ­tests, sub­jects load­ed ­with 5 g of crea­tine mono­hy­drate or pla­ce­bo (glu­cose) ­four ­times per day for 5 ­days, ­after ­which a main­te­nance ­dose of 5 g per day for 10 ­weeks was admin­is­tered. At base­line, and ­after 10 ­days and 10 ­weeks of sup­ple­men­ta­tion, sub­jects per­formed i) a ­cycle ­test involv­ing 5 all-out ­sprints of 15 sec dura­tion sep­ar­at­ed by 15 sec recov­ery ­with the resis­tance set at 0.075 ­body ­mass (kg), and ii) 6 ­timed 80-m skat­ing ­sprints ­with the ­sprints initiat­ed eve­ry 30 sec and a ­split ­time tak­en at 47 m.
Results. A two-way ANO­VA dem­on­strat­ed no sig­nif­i­cant ­change in any of the var­i­ables in the P ­group ­over the peri­od of ­study. However, in the Cr ­group, aver­age ­mean pow­er out­put ­over the 5 ­sprints was sig­nif­i­cant­ly high­er at 10 ­days (1074±241 W) and 10 ­weeks (1025±216 W) ­than at base­line (890±172 W), (p<0.01). Average ­peak pow­er out­put ­over the 5 ­sprints ­improved sig­nif­i­cant­ly ­from base­line (1294±311 W) to 10 ­days (1572±463 W), (p<0.01). Average on-ice ­sprint per­for­mance to 47 m was sig­nif­i­cant­ly fast­er at 10 ­days (6.88±0.21 sec) and 10 ­weeks (6.96±0.19 sec) ­than at base­line (7.17±0.27 sec), (p<0.005).
Conclusions. This ­study dem­on­strates ­that crea­tine sup­ple­men­ta­tion has an ergo­gen­ic ­effect in ­elite ice-hock­ey ­players.