Creatine a Culprit in Oregon Compartment Syndrome Cases?

August 23, 2010 -- An Oregon hospital is running tests to determine if a muscle-enhancing supplement may have caused 13 members of the McMinnville High School football team to be hospitalized with severe muscle problems.

Williamette Valley Medical Center spokeswoman Rosemary Davis said the players are being tested for creatine, which has been linked to compartment syndrome, a condition caused by extreme pressure on the blood vessels within a muscle compartment causing swelling and considerable pain. If not treated, the syndrome can cause permanent damage.

Three of the players had surgery for compartment syndrome, and tests showed those players had creatine kinase levels of more than 40,000 in their blood. A normal level is between 200 and 2,000. If not treated, the syndrome can cause permanent damage.

Experts are divided about whether the use of creatine -- or something else -- is the root cause of the unusual cluster of compartment syndrome cases.

"I still think it is creatine. This is why its use is banned by many trainers. At the same time it is heavily promoted, also by some trainers as well as by nutrition stores," Dr. Thomas L. Schwenck of the University of Michigan told ABC News. "I doubt any follow-up blood testing is going to help. Testing for creatine can't distinguish between endogenous and exogenous sources, nor test for the supplement directly."

Dr. Donald Christie, Maine-based sports medicine specialist, disagrees.

"Injecting the bugaboo of creatine into the story is just creating artificial hype," Christie said. He added that there are just as many athletes who developed compartment syndrome without using creatine as there are those with the syndrome who have used it.

So far, Williamette Valley Medical Center says that six of the players have been discharged. Three are going home today, and the rest will be released tomorrow.