Lanhers et al. 2017: Creatine and Exercise Performance Meta-Analysis

Study Overview

Citation: Lanhers C, Pereira B, Naughton G, Trousselard M, Lesage FX, Dutheil F. (2017).

Creatine supplementation and lower limb strength performance: A systematic review and meta-analyses. Sports Medicine, 47(1), 163-186.

Following their 2015 upper body meta-analysis, Lanhers and colleagues expanded their analysis to examine creatine’s effects on lower body strength and overall exercise performance.

This large meta-analysis provides further evidence for creatine as the most effective legal performance-enhancing supplement.

Key Findings

Lower Body Strength

Creatine supplementation significantly improved lower body strength measures including squat, leg press, and leg extension performance.

The effect sizes were comparable to those found for upper body strength, indicating that creatine benefits are not limb-specific but rather systemic.

Power Output

Peak power and mean power output during repeated high-intensity efforts showed significant improvements with creatine supplementation.

This is consistent with the phosphocreatine system providing rapid energy for explosive movements.

Repeated Sprint Performance

One of the most practically relevant findings was improved performance in repeated sprint protocols — critical for team sports like football, basketball, and badminton where athletes must repeatedly produce maximal efforts with short recovery periods.

Practical Implications

1. Creatine benefits entire body performance — Not just upper or lower body
2. Team sport athletes benefit significantly — Repeated sprint ability is a key performance indicator
3. Standard dosing protocols are effective — 3-5g daily maintenance dose
4. Combine with sport-specific training — Creatine amplifies training adaptations

Malaysian Relevance

Malaysian athletes in popular sports like badminton, football, and sepak takraw — all requiring repeated explosive efforts — stand to benefit significantly from creatine supplementation.

This meta-analysis provides the evidence base supporting creatine use across various sporting contexts relevant to the Malaysian athletic community.

Sources and References

• Lanhers C, et al. (2017). Creatine supplementation and lower limb strength performance. Sports Medicine, 47(1), 163-186.
• Kreider RB, et al. (2017). ISSN position stand. JISSN, 14, 18.

Study Limitations

• Like any meta-analysis, the pooled estimate is only as reliable as the included trials, which varied in dosing protocol and the strength tests used
• The underlying evidence skews towards young, trained men, so effect sizes in women, older adults, and untrained people are less certain
• It focuses on lower-limb strength, power, and repeated-sprint outcomes; endurance and skill-based performance fall outside its scope
• Heterogeneity between studies makes a single precise effect size hard to pin down even where the direction of benefit is consistent

What This Means for You

If your sport involves repeated explosive efforts — football, badminton, sepak takraw — this meta-analysis is the evidence that creatine is worth using: the strength and repeated-sprint gains it pooled are exactly the qualities those sports demand. Because the benefit is systemic rather than limb-specific, there is no need to treat it as an “upper body” or “lower body” supplement. A standard daily maintenance dose, paired with your normal sport-specific training, is all the protocol requires.

Further Reading

• creatine dosage guide
• creatine for muscle building
• how creatine works
• buying creatine in Malaysia
• creatine for women
• creatine stacking guide

Where This Fits in the Evidence

Lanhers et al. (2017) is the lower body sequel to the same group’s 2015 upper limb analysis, and together they show creatine’s strength benefit is systemic rather than limb-specific: squat, leg press and leg extension improved with effect sizes comparable to the bench-press findings. The meta-analysis also pooled power output and repeated-sprint data, where the gains map cleanly onto the phosphocreatine system fuelling brief, maximal efforts in team sports. By aggregating many randomised trials it offers more reliable estimates than any single study, which is why it functions as a keystone reference for performance claims. Its upper body counterpart and the broader pool of strength and power trials are gathered in our research library.

Sources & References

Full citations available in our Research Library.