Older adults with knee osteoarthritis (OA) may want to try a combination of creatine supplementation and resistance exercise, which was shown in a recent study to improve muscle strength and quality of life.
In the 12-week study conducted at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, researchers enrolled postmenopausal women with knee OA to participate in lower-limb resistance training. Half the women took a placebo, while the other half took 20 g/d of creatine for one week and 5 g/d for the other 11 weeks of the active intervention.
Women taking creatine had a significant improvement in physical function, both compared to the placebo group, and compared to their baseline scores. In addition, subjects consuming creatine showed improvements in physical function and stiffness subscales judged on WOMAC values, significant improvement in lower limb lean mass and in quality of life. Both groups had significant reductions in pain.
Dominick Walsh is a blogger for Performance Nutrition and TMRzoo.com and covers all men’s health topics and exercise issues including protein powders, diets, weight loss, weight lifting supplements, fat burners and supplement reviews. Dominick’s columns cover everything you need to know about your pre, during and post workout nutrition.
