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Low Back Pain (LBP) has four levels of severity. Sometimes, it is so severe that it also causes pain in the legs. LBP is one of the leading causes of disability at a global level. According to scientists, 15% to 20% of adults suffer from back pain in a single year. As many as 50% to 80% of people are likely to suffer from back pain once in a lifetime. People across all age groups may suffer from back pain: from teenagers to the elderly. It hampers the performance of the working population and burdens the economy.
Back pain may occur due to many reasons, such as:
Can you take CBD oil for back pain? Can it help you?
CBD (cannabidiol) is one of the many compounds found in the cannabis plant. It seems to offer a natural and alternative way to get relief in chronic pain. Many scientific studies support such claims:
It should be noted that 63.8% of patients that supported the pain-relieving effects of CBD were suffering from back pain.
Most popular CBD products were CBD oils and tinctures.
California was the first state to legalize the use of cannabis for patients with AIDS. It was thought to have analgesic effects and relieve pain.
There are two types of pains:
Both times of pain may co-exist with inflammatory pain.
Sometimes, the pain has a clear underlying cause (such as in cancer patients). At other times, the cause can be vague (such as in chronic back pain patients).
The use of cannabis for pain management has several risks associated with it. Its psychoactive constitute called THC (Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) increases risk of:
THC is also associated with increased cases of:
THC is mainly found in marijuana (cannabis plants having more than 0.3% THC). It is highly addictive and has severe withdrawal symptoms. Cannabis use during pregnancy may lead to neonatal morbidity or death. Chronic cannabis use may also increase cognitive risks, such as deficits in:
Use of high-THC cannabis worsens these symptoms in cannabis users.
While THC is not considered suitable for medical purposes, Cannabidiol (CBD) is considered safe. NIDA Director Nora Volkow asserts that CBD is a ‘safe’ drug. It:
The article suggests that the efficacy of CBD needs to be studied in detail for medicinal purposes.
The body has an endocannabinoid system (ECS) which regulates its internal functions. It maintains homeostasis in the body. This ECS is responsible for signaling the release of ‘anandamide’ in the brain. It is this chemical which indicates the brain about the happiness and well-being of the body. Anandamide also regulates pain in the body. CBD prevents the body from absorbing this molecule. Thus, the level of anandamide rises in the bloodstream. Hence, an individual ‘feels’ or ‘perceives’ less pain. By this mechanism, CBD also helps with reducing symptoms of schizophrenia and other mental health disorders.
CBD also targets TRPV1 receptors in the body to reduce the perception of pain. These receptors are responsible for the onset of inflammation in the body. They also increase awareness of pain.
The journal Neurotoxicology published a study in September 2015. This study found that CBD inhibits the levels of glutamate in the brain and spinal cord. The glutamate levels are also associated with the transmission of the sensation of pain. Past studies rarely studied the effects of CBD separately. They generally studied effects of cannabinoids in pain conditions. Still, a clinical review published in 2017 mentions that CBD is primarily anti-inflammatory.
In a 2012 study on mice, researchers found that CBD targets alpha-3-glycine receptors. These receptors suppress:
caused by dysfunctional glycine receptors. These glycine receptors are found in the spine and are important pain processors.
The most effective way of taking CBD oil or CBD tincture is the sublingual method. CBD oil bottles often come with a dropper. Most of these droppers allow a 1-ml drop at a time. Calculate the number of drops you need to take according to the recommended CBD dosage on the product label.
You may also contact the CBD expert of the company to know how many drops of CBD oil you should take for back pain.
Put the required number of drops under your tongue. Hold them there for some time. You may also swish them around for 30 seconds (up to 2 minutes) before you swallow them. The mucus lining in your mouth and throat is quite thin. When you hold the drops there, the cannabidiol in the oil finds a chance to get absorbed by the body and enter the bloodstream directly.
Oral CBD products (such as CBD capsules or soft gels) are believed to be less effective in relieving pain. In oral consumption, most of the CBD in the product gets digested. Only a small amount of CBD reaches the bloodstream. Oral CBD products have low bioavailability (usually in the range of 10% to 30%). One advantage that CBD edibles have over other delivery options is that their effects last for a longer duration. Oral CBD’s effects are quite mild though. Hence, they are not recommended in cases of acute back pain or chronic back pain.
In cases of low back pain (or pain in specific areas of the pain), applying CBD oil on the affected area can help provide quick relief. You may also try CBD topics, such as:
to treat localized pain.
Topical application of CBD oil allows cannabidiol to work on the endocannabinoid receptors concentrated in the area of pain. It reduces the inflammation and ‘perception of pain’ in the area.
At present, the FDA or other government agencies have not officially published guidelines about the best CBD oil dosages for different medical conditions. Experts say that the right CBD dose for an individual depends on many factors, such as:
With no guidelines, one has to find out his or her optimal CBD dosage through the trial-and-error method. A first-time user is always advised to start with the lowest recommended CBD dose. One should note the effects of their CBD consumption. One should wait for at least six hours before taking another dose of CBD oil.
Increase a dose or frequency of the dose slowly until you achieve the results you want. For chronic back pain patients, it is advisable to discuss the CBD use with the doctor first.
CBD is known for drug-to-drug interactions. It interferes with the processing for many medications available in the market. If you are already taking regular medication, taking CBD may interfere with its effects. In some cases, the ‘excess’ medicine that does not get processed may be toxic for you. Similarly, some drugs have withdrawal symptoms. When you stop taking such medicines, your body may experience a shock. The ‘switch to CBD’ has to be slow and well-planned.
If you want to switch to CBD treatment for your back pain, consult with your doctor first. You may need to undergo several sessions with a trained health practitioner to achieve your optimal CBD dosing regimen.
The good thing is that no cases have been reported about CBD overdose yet. Some of the side-effects associated with cannabidiol are quite mild and temporary. They include:
If you experience any of these side-effects, you may want to take a break from your CBD regimen. A break of 24 to 48 hours should cleanse your system from any residual CBD effects. It will allow the CBD side-effects to wear off without additional treatments.
In April 2019, a study by Arkansas researchers was published in ‘Molecules’. It found that prolonged use of CBD in mice led to the rise of toxins in the liver. More studies are needed to confirm such a side-effect of cannabidiol in humans.
Since no official guidelines are available, CBD experts use anecdotal and experiential evidence to come up with the recommended CBD dosage for a patient. An analysis of hundreds of user reviews suggests that you should start with consuming 20 to 40 mg of CBD per day for pain relief.
You can increase the dose by 5 milligrams in a week (until you achieve the desired effects).
Most of the users found that 50 mg of CBD per day significantly reduced pain and inflammation in their back area.
WTP Hemp CBD Oil Tincture has a high bioavailability of 97%. Using the nano-emulsification process, the company breaks down CBD oil drops into tiny droplets that can be easily absorbed by the body. Hence, its CBD oils and tinctures are quite potent. The 30-ml bottle of WTP Hemp CBD oil that contains 250 mg of cannabidiol is much stronger than other similar products in the market.
A simple calculation shows that if a 30-ml bottle contains 250 mg of CBD, a 1-ml drop will contain about 8.33 mg of CBD. This is how CBD concentration of the oil is calculated. But this is only half the story.
Typically, the sublingual bioavailability of CBD oil is 13% to 19%. The highest estimation of sublingual bioavailability of CBD oil has been pegged at 35%. Now take a 30-ml bottle of another company containing 250-mg of CBD with 35% bioavailability and compare it with WTP Hemp. The WTP Hemp’s CBD bottle offers you 2.77 times more benefits (or almost triple the benefits) than other companies.
With such a high CBD potency, WTP Hemp CBD oil is the best CBD oil for your back pain. The company offers other advantages too. It uses US-grown hemp (which comes from licensed Colorado farms). It also uses the best cannabidiol extraction process in the industry – the supercritical CO2 extraction method. It does not add any artificial flavors to its products. So, you get the raw and basic hemp extract with all its therapeutic benefits.
Check out the lab test results of WTP Hemp CBD oil tincture here to see what it contains.
We The People Hemp was founded in 2018 to bring quality CBD products and information to the global marketplace.