More athletes and consumers are turning to CBD to treat pain

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More people are turning to CBD to treat pain and chronic pain from medical issues like arthritis, fibromyalgia and sports injuries, and the naturally-derived substance is quickly becoming athletes’ and health-conscious consumers’ preferred medicine of choice.

What exactly is CBD? 

CBD, or cannabidiol, originates from the cannabis sativa plant. Though it stems from the same source as recreational marijuana, it’s non-psychoactive and non-addictive, making it an idea way to treat pain without prescription drugs, painkillers or opioids. 

The substance has shown promising results in helping people diagnosed with a wide array of conditions like anxiety, epilepsy, depression, PTSD, insomnia, muscle spasms and more. 

Professional soccer player Megan Rapinoe has been a long-time supporter of CBD and says she’s been using it “for a number of years so far, and I’ve seen really good benefits for me. It’s something that’s part of my daily routine now and something that’s certainly part of my recovery routine.”

The 34-year-old athlete helped lead the U.S. to victories at the 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup tournaments. Her team also won a gold medal during the 2012 London Olympics, and finished as runner-up at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup. 

Megan strongly believes that CBD is a safe all-natural way to treat pain from injuries or post-workout recovery without side effects or the use of prescription painkillers.

“…To this day, I think if I wanted to find somebody to give me an opioid prescription or a sleeping pill prescription or some other prescription drugs, I think that that would in many ways be easier and technically legal to give. Which, I think we’re seeing right now, has been horribly damaging to our country and to athletes as well,” she says.  

CBD can be used in formulas like topical creams and oils, which allows it to be applied topically. These formulas are ideal for athletes who may have injuries or muscle soreness.  

“There actually is a lot of research done in the cannabis industry and on CBD, it’s just all (not) considered ‘white paper research,’ which means it hasn’t been published through universities or our federal government, which personally I feel is a huge disservice to the American people and the industry,” Megan explains. “There should have been and there should be right now government-funded studies so we can have credible data we want.”

WADA, or the World Anti-Doping Agency, now allows athletes the use of CBD. It removed cannabidiol from its list of banned substances in September 2017, though it still prohibits the use of marijuana. 

“I think that there are a lot of athletes very curious about CBD — I think generally as an athlete, you’re looking at the next piece of technology, whether it’s a wearable, how you can recover better or just what you can do to get that edge,” Megan says. “And certainly I think the shift for athletes has been towards more natural products and products that have a more holistic approach, so CBD falls right into that obviously.”

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