So there has been a lot of interest lately about taking creatine to help get rid of tendonitis. In this post, I’ll explore what science has to say about the subject.
Or rather, I’d like to explore what science says…but there just isn’t much. I spent about half an hour on PubMed and came up with:
One small study that seems to show some benefit. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5950745/) The study, done on 18 young swimmers, indicated that taking creatine after an overuse tendon injury did have some beneficial effects. Mainly, it helped to lessen muscle loss during both immobilization and rehabilitation. The creatine group also had a faster decrease in pain than the non-creatine group.
It was a little surprising that this was the only study that came up for creatine as it relates to tendon health, because creatine is easily the most studied supplement on earth. Athletes of all kinds have been using it for years, and it’s probably the most widely taken weight training supplement as well. But no one seems to be worried about looking at it for tendon health. Anecdotally, a lot of gym-goers seem to think that it helps with tendon pain. But of course anecdotes aren’t science.
Still, that was it. One study, 18 participants divided into two groups of nine. So while this is a very small study and definitely shouldn’t be taken as gospel, it does seem to indicate that creatine supplementation might help if you have a tendon issue. And since creatine monohydrate is both cheap and widely available, why not try it out if you’re experiencing tendon pain? It can’t hurt, and it might just help.