Table 3.

Studies recruiting healthy mimic immobilization subjects.

Authors (Year)	Design	QACIS Score	Participants	Creatine Dose (g/day)	Duration (Days)	Training Exercise	Evaluation Exercise	Outcome Measures (Muscle-Related)	Main Findings (Muscle-Related)
Fransen et al. [30]	RP DB	92.86	25 healthy untrained males/females 24 ± 4 years old Short arm casting for seven days	20 g	7	N/A	Forearm wrist flexion ergometer	Ergometry incremental protocol to fatigue and two constant load (CL1 and CL2) exercise bouts Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) for PCr	No difference in any work and power data, after casting, CR vs. PL (p = 0.57) Work production in CL1 tended (p = 0.073) to attenuate in CR vs. PL, no difference in CL2 ↓ PCr after casting in PL (p = 0.003), no change in C R (p = 0.31)
Backx et al. [31]	RP DB	92.86	27 healthy untrained males 23 ± 1 years old Long leg casting for seven days	20 g × 5 days 5 g × 16 days	21	N/A	Knee extension	Muscle biopsy Computed tomography (CT) for cross-sectional area (CSA) 1RM	↓ Quadricep muscle CSA after casting, no differences between groups (p = 0.76) ↓ Leg muscle strength, after casting, no differences between groups (p = 0.20) When non-responders to creatine loading were excluded (n = 6), responders (n = 8) still showed no signs of preservation of muscle mass or strength during casting

RP: randomized parallel; DB: double blind; N/A: not applicable; RM: repetition maximum; CR: creatine; PL: placebo; ↑: increase; ↓: decrease.