CBD and Sport

CBD has been attracting a lot of attention in the sporting world with much of the media attention currently going to the plight of NFL players who have suffered injuries over the years. They say that CBD helps them to recover from concussive injuries and that it helps them to beat pain from old sporting injuries that they would ordinarily have to control using strong pain killers. Currently, there are campaigns aimed at getting the NFL to accept CBD as a bona fide treatment for injured players, but that’s not the only way in which CBD may help sportsmen and women.

CBD as a means of enhancing performance

Body-builders, runners and fitness enthusiasts are saying that a pre-workout dose of CBD helps them to maximise the intensity of their workouts by lowering the pain threshold. They also believe that CBD helps to minimise the time needed for post-workout recovery, helping them to avoid the dangers of “overtraining”. Some have even gone so far as to call it a “performance enhancing drug”. If this is indeed the case, it is certainly a lot less harmful than the hormones often used in the sporting world to promote performance.

Not yet considered to be “doping”, but this may change

Sporting bodies around the world test athletes for a wide variety of drugs, including THC, but now studies are pointing to CBD as a possible “unfair advantage” and are saying that it should be included in drug testing regimens. At time of writing, however, CBD is not among the drugs for which athletes are tested, and there are those who argue that it is a nutritional supplement and that making it against the rules in sports would be akin to considering a healthy diet to be an “unfair advantage”.

Anti-inflammatory and pain relief effects of particular interest

CBD has been proven to have anti-inflammatory and pain relief effects, and as most sports people will suffer form an injury at one time or another. It is this use of CBD that seems to be of the greatest interest. After all, when the alternative is powerful pharmaceutical painkillers that could even prove to be addictive, CBD is clearly a healthier option.
NFL player Jake Plummer, who is spearheading the call for the NFL to not only allow but administer CBD to injured players says that in the past, he would use painkillers such as Percocet and Vicodin to control injury related pain. He says the drugs upset his stomach and left him feeling “detached”. Today, he uses CBD, and says that he achieves relief from pain without any unpleasant side effects.

CBD as a sports supplement

Although nobody would wish to promote a substance that takes fair competition out of sports, CBD is a gentle, natural agent, and whether or not it boosts performance (the same could be said for a cup of coffee), it can help with pain relief and recovery after sporting injuries have been sustained.