Lacking psychotropic effects and being present in high amounts in hemp, CBD for pain management has gained considerable interest not only in the world of alternative wellness, but also within the scientific community.
Pain management continues to be a difficult challenge for pain sufferers and healthcare providers alike. Conventional pain medications often lose their efficacy over time — requiring higher doses to provide relief as patients develop tolerance to the drugs; adverse side effects are a trade-off that many patients have no choice but to accept; and certain types of drugs also have a high risk for abuse and dependence. Without a reliably effective drug option, people with chronic or acute pain also often experience poor quality of life and develop mental health problems.
The Science of CBD for Pain Management
A number of clinical studies have revealed that CBD may offer therapeutic benefits for different types of pain.
- Even in significant amounts, CBD does not produce psychotropic effects when used for pain management.
- CBD treatment of patients with limb amputations, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, and brachial plexus injury showed a significant reduction of pain.
- Chronic pain associated with kidney transplants appeared to respond well to CBD treatment.
- Topical CBD treatment proved effective for patients with peripheral neuropathic pain.
- Patients with fibromyalgia experienced more than 30% pain reduction with CBD.
- Patients with generalized chronic pain reported consistent improvement in their quality of life and quality of sleep with CBD treatment.
- CBD treatment of non-cancer chronic pain indicated safety for long-term use and improvements in pain and quality of life.
- CBD treatment for arthritis using an animal model resulted in reduced pain and inflammation.
The growing body of evidence supporting the pain-relief benefits of CBD has made CBD products a popular alternative pain management option for many sufferers. The easy accessibility to a wide variety of CBD products, however, makes it even more important to choose good-quality, hemp-derived CBD to ensure safety and a higher potential for efficacy.
Only buy from reputable manufacturers and retailers, and always look for the product’s certificate of analysis (COA) to verify content and quality.