How Cannabidiol Oil Could Play a Major Role in Back Pain Treatment

Back pain refers to the pain that’s felt on the back, which is often a result of spinal injury or degeneration. It can be localized in your lower or upper spine, or it might span your entire spine. 

Back pain is easy to dismiss, especially during the early stages of its development. But without urgent treatment, the pain could set you back hundreds of dollars in diminished productivity and medical bills. Worse yet, back pain might lead to physical disability, complicating your health and straining your finances even further.

This article is not meant to be medical advice and you should always consult your physician in any decisions relevant to therapy and medicating.

Causes of Back Pain

As we’ve already indicated, in most cases the main reason for back pain is spinal injury or degeneration. 

A spinal injury can be caused by straining your muscle or ligament, as is often the case when lifting heavy objects off the ground suddenly. Sudden awkward movements, as well as ruptured or bulging disks, might also cause spinal injury. If you’re already suffering from a debilitating disease, spinal injuries might occur just from improper postures. 

On the other hand, most incidences of spinal degeneration result from an underlying medical condition, particularly diseases that affect the spine. Examples of such diseases include osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. 

Other common risk factors for back pain include old age, sedentary lifestyles, obesity, smoking, and certain psychological conditions like anxiety and depression.

Symptoms and Treatment for Back Pain

The signature symptom of back pain is aches on your back. The ache can range from a muscle ache to a burning sensation or a stabbing pain. Back pain usually worsens with prolonged standing or walking, bending, lifting, or twisting. 

Like most chronic conditions, back pain is easier prevented than cured. Regular exercise, proper dieting, and healthy lifestyle habits like avoiding cigarette smoking play a fundamental role in preventing back pain. Being mindful of your posture, especially while lifting heavy objects, also goes a long way in reducing the risks of back pain. Along with your efforts to prevent the pain you can supplement those efforts using cannabidiol (CBD) oil.

More About Cannabidiol Oil

Cannabidiol oil refers to the oil that’s extracted from cannabidiol (CBD). CBD is one of the most widely-studied compounds of the cannabis plant. Medical researchers believe that it can help to relieve a wide spectrum of medical conditions, including pain, anxiety, neurological disorders, to mention but a few. 

Hundreds of clinical trials and anecdotal reports have shown that people suffering from back pain can benefit immensely from CBD’s analgesic properties. That explains why the popularity of this cannabis extract is at an all-time high. 

You can now order the best CBD tincture in America, or whichever continent you’re in, provided that the substance is legal in your jurisdiction. Yes, it’s important to reiterate that its powerful therapeutic properties notwithstanding, CBD sadly remains illegal in various countries worldwide. 

In the United States, the DEA still classifies all cannabis extracts as Schedule 1 drug. Fortunately, CBD is legal in all the fifty states, provided that it contains no more than 0.3% of the psychoactive cannabis compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

How Does CBD Oil Work Against Back Pain?

CBD oil has been shown to possibly ease pain through its interactions with the endocannabinoid system. The endocannabinoid system is the body’s cell-signaling system that plays a pivotal role in boosting immunity, regulating homeostatic balance, as well as maintaining our overall health and wellbeing. 

Numerous studies have shown that this system could help with various physiological functions like pain management, relief from anxiety, regulation of circadian rhythms, etc. It produces cannabinoids (known as endogenous cannabinoids or endocannabinoids). 

Pain relief is a complex mechanism that involves the binding of endocannabinoids with endocannabinoid receptors. The cannabinoids in the CBD oil attempt to alter the chemical structure of endocannabinoid receptors known as CB2 receptors.  

Once the chemical structure of CB2 receptors has been altered, it becomes a lot easier for your endogenous cannabinoids to bind to these receptors, enhancing the natural pain relief process. 

Besides altering CB2 receptors, CBD oil also promotes the body’s access to its own cannabinoids by inhibiting the activity of certain chemicals that destroy these compounds. For instance, studies show that CBD attenuates the effects of Fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), one of the chemicals responsible for degrading endocannabinoids. 

What Does Research Say?

Various research studies have been conducted on the analgesic properties of CBD oil, and the findings are quite inspiring. 

For instance, one 2016 study investigated the effects of CBD in rats. In this study, researchers applied different doses of CBD-infused gels on arthritic rats for four consecutive days. At the end of the study, researchers observed a significant reduction in pain and inflammation. The analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of CBD improved with dosage. The best part is that CBD didn’t present any severe side effects, which is a common concern with most conventional opioid drugs. 

A 2017 study also examined the effects of CBD oil on migraines. The study mostly looked at CBD products with traces of THC. Again, the findings were positive. 

Similar studies on the analgesic properties of CBD have also been conducted on rats with cancerous tumors. Not only has CBD oil shown results in studies against cancer-induced pain, but the oil also produces anti-inflammatory effects that may mediate the spread of malignant tumors. 

Although there’s limited research focusing directly on back pain, CBD oil appears to be effective against different types of pain. And since the body’s pain mechanism is more or less the same, it’s safe to admit that back pain victims can benefit immensely from the oil’s powerful analgesic properties.

Other Ways CBD Oil Treats Back Pain

Cannabidiol oil doesn’t just help to treat back pain directly. It also has been shown to address some of the annoying symptoms of the condition, including;

• Inflammation – CBD oil inhibits the production of a pro-inflammatory mediator known as tumor necrosis factor-alpha, thereby reducing inflammation. 
• Intervertebral Disc Degeneration – According to studies conducted on rats with intervertebral disc lesions, it emerged that CBD oil could guard against lesion-induced intervertebral disc degeneration. That’s all thanks to its anti-inflammatory and anti-hyperalgesic properties.
• Anxiety – Persistent pain and anxiety go hand in hand. Thankfully, CBD improves the body’s signaling of serotonin and other ‘feel-good’ chemicals, thereby elevating your mood and relieving anxiety.
• Insomnia – CBD oil treats insomnia by shortening sleep latency and eliminating REM sleep.

Cannabidiol oil is proving itself to have a useful part in your back pain holistic options as long as approved by your medical physician with your other treatments. The substance is seeming to assist with pain management without subjecting you to annoying side effects. It is most recommends to use CBD alongside other natural pain-relief remedies like exercise, posture correctness, and massage. Please make sure to consult your doctor for any decisions related to your health and pain relief. 

This is a sponsored post and SaveOnCannabis has been paid for the placement of the content and did not author the content of the piece as well as does not necessarily share the opinion of the author. 

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