How Athletes Are Turning To A New Form of Pain Management with CBD
Guest post from Kim Torres: Kim is one of the voices behind SundayScaries blog. At the same time, she handles content partnerships. She wants to inspire people to be actively fit and be the best version of themselves. Her tip is to avoid stress and anxiety, and only focus on life’s wonders.
Athletes train day in day out, putting a lot of stress on their bodies and with little time to recover between training sessions. While this can have positive effects in terms of their training, it can also have adverse effects on their bodies. The physical trauma created by a rigorous and prolonged training regime can lead to injuries and pain. There are many current forms of pain relief available to athletes, and while these are effective, they are also causing addiction and in extreme cases, even deaths. Any athlete who competes on a professional level must be aware of the medications they are using, the long-term effects this will have on their body. And, of course, they should note whether these medications appear on the list of banned substances that could see them facing a ban from competing.
Just as these athletes are continually looking for ways in which they can improve their training regimes to become better athletes through more efficient training, they are also looking for alternatives to enhance their sports recovery. They want options that will offer them a safer pain relief alternative.
Many people in this position are beginning to look at the possibilities of pain relief in the form of CBD.
What is CBD?
CBD – or to give it it’s full name Cannabidiol – is a chemical compound that is found in the cannabis plant. It is a substance that occurs naturally, and it is used in products such as CBD oil, and edible items, in order to give a feeling of relaxation and calm. Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the cousin of Cannabidiol and is psychoactive, CBD, however, is not.
Essentially the Cannabis plant is made up of two very distinct parts. CBD, which will not give you any feelings of euphoria, or cause you to feel altered in any way, and THC, which does.
Some people, a very small proportion, may experience some side effects with CBD, but in the main, there do not appear to be widely experienced.
CBD can be taken in many forms like gummies, tinctures, candies, or a straight-up CBD shot, that carries different doses. The optimum dose for a consumer depends on a few things including body type, level of pain or that of the discomfort that you are looking to manage, and CBD tolerance levels.
What are the benefits?
There do appear to be a significant number of benefits to be gained from using CBD, which is excellent news for athletes.
Pain Relief
One of the main reasons that athletes are turning to CBD is a form of pain relief. Studies that have been carried out in this area do indicate that cannabis (although mostly THC over CBD) is very effective as a way of reducing pain. This may, in part, be due to the fact that there is little research that has been carried out on CBD alone. However, despite this lack of scientific evidence, many athletes are finding CBD to be a very good alternative source of pain relief.
NSAID alternative
NSAID’s, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that can be bought over the counter, have been being used by athletes for decades. This includes products such as Ibuprofen and naproxen sodium. However, it is now believed that they are not as safe as it was once thought. Those athletes who take part in long-distance racing are often advised to avoid taking this form of drug both during events and longer training sessions because they have an increased risk of causing renal damage. Even in the event of shorter events and training sessions, the frequent or long-term use of NSAIDs has been linked to increases in heart attacks and strokes.
CBD has been found to be effective as a pain relief method for these athletes and has given them a way to reduce their need for NSAIDs, while experiencing minimal to no side effects.
Opioid Alternative
Figures from the CDC indicate that in 2016, opioids were present in over 42,000 deaths in the US. Whilst it is agreed that pain medications in the opioid family – codeine, oxycontin and morphine, are very effective in terms of pain management, it is also accepted that they carry a high risk of addiction and an overdose can cause death.
For pain that is acute and of a high-intensity, Cannabinoids are less effective than opioids, but they do offer a very good long-term pain management solution with significant reductions in addiction and death from overdose.
Reduce inflammation
Some inflammation is not necessarily a bad thing for athletes. However, too much can hinder recovery and have a negative impact on performance. CBD can also assist with inflammation – including the type that occurs in the gut. GI distress is, in fact, one of the number one reasons why athletes drop out of longer races. Obviously, CBD doesn’t help with issues of dehydration or overheating, but it can be beneficial where there are underlying inflammation issues.
Regulations around CBD and sport
One concern that many athletes have about drugs in general, and not just CBD, is which ones can they legally take in order to help themselves heal without jeopardizing their sporting careers. The good news is that at the very beginning of 2018, WADA (the World Anti-Doping Agency) removed CBD from its list of substances that are prohibited – and that is both in and out of the competition. At the same time, USADA (the US Anti-Doping Agency) also did the same. It is worth mentioning that it was ONLY CBD that was removed from these lists. Synthetic cannabinoids and the psychoactive components of THC and Marijuana are still on the prohibited lists for competitions.
WADA has set the urinary threshold at 150 nanograms per milliliter for THC. This is much more lenient than the previous limit, which was set at 15 nanograms per milliliter. This higher threshold was set in order to lower the risk of an athlete testing positive as a result of casual use outside of competition.
The announcement was seen by many in the athletic world as something of a game-changer as it offers those in the field of sport a real alternative to pain management over the more traditional opioid-based alternatives.
Conclusion
With the changes in the laws regarding the use of CBD by those involved in sport and the constant requirement by athletes as they strive to improve their performance and push themselves harder, it is little wonder that many of them are shunning more traditional opioid medications in favor of CBD. There may still be plenty of testing that needs to be done to see just how effective it is, but early indications are that athletes who have been using CBD as an alternative source of pain medication are seeing the benefits and that cannot be a bad thing.
