Search Strategy
The systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted based on Preferred
Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)
(25). Electronic and manual search was
performed up to July 2020 in Embase, Medline, Cochrane Library, Scopus
and a supplementary search in Google Scholar. The following medical
subject headings (MeSH) and non-MeSH terms keywords were applied,
including: “creatine”, “creatine monohydrate”, “creatine
supplementation”, “creatine loading”, “exercise”, “physical
exercise”, “eccentric exercise”, “aerobic exercise”, “athlete”,
“muscle damage” “creatine kinase”, “lactate dehydrogenase”,
“controlled trial”, “randomized”, “randomised”, “random”,
“randomly”, “randomized clinical trial”, “RCT”, “blinded”,
“double blind”, “double blinded”, “trial”, “controlled clinical
trial”, “crossover procedure”, “cross-over trial”, “double blind
procedure ”and “equivalence trial”. References lists of all studies
and previous review articles were screened for more eligible studies
identification.