Medical cannabis and CBD have proven over the years that they can help people suffering from arthritis. A new study claims that 90 percent of patients who tried cannabis felt relief from their symptoms.
The survey was carried out by CreakyJoints, a nonprofit under the Global Healthy Living Foundation. CreakyJoints offers support to people living with arthritis and wanted to look at the efficacy of medical cannabis and CBD for treating the disorder. It’s been suggested for years that cannabis and CBD contain analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties. Many chronic pain sufferers around the world also choose cannabis over prescription medication in many cases.
The FDA is scrambling to get a hold on cannabis and CBD, as it becomes legal across many states in the US. Due to various reasons, cannabis is unregulated on the whole, and the CBD industry is even more problematic. At the same time, the Transportation Security Administration recently announced a new policy that allows medical cannabis patients to fly domestically and internationally with their medication.
One thing is abundantly clear; more research and clinical trials are needed to understand the profound effects medical cannabis and CBD can have for a range of conditions. These include things like chronic pain, but also conditions like anxiety and insomnia. That’s the main reason for the CreakyJoints study, as they wanted to understand how members of their community use cannabis for their symptoms.
The study results were presented at the Congress of Rheumatology
The findings were presented at the 2019 Annual European Congress of Rheumatology conference in Madrid. A total of 1,059 arthritis patients filled out a questionnaire containing 77 questions, to better understand medical cannabis and CBD usage for arthritis. At least 57 percent of the participants said they’ve tried medical cannabis or CBD (or both) to help with their pain. The majority of patients surveyed either had rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis, while a smaller percentage suffered from psoriatic arthritis, fibromyalgia, and ankylosing spondylitis.
Participants also commented that they didn’t only use medical cannabis and CBD for pain but also a range of other issues related to their condition. These included things like insomnia, depression from pain, nausea, physical function, and fatigue. The amazing statistic to come out of the study was that 97 percent of people living with arthritis said that cannabis had helped to ease their symptoms. At the same time, 93 percent reported that CBD was the compound they preferred that was effective for them.
Another interesting thing to come from the survey was the issue of doctor-patient conversations when it comes to cannabis and CBD. Around 45 percent of participants said they started taking either cannabis or CBD or both to treat their arthritis symptoms despite being on prescription medication already.
W. Benjamin Nowell, Ph.D., Director of Patient-Centered Research at CreakyJoints said, “Anecdotally, and via this survey data, we know that there are many people with arthritis who benefit from marijuana and CBD products. However, we have to temper our potential excitement about adding these products to an arthritis management strategy because there is so much yet to learn about how these supplements interact with people’s prescribed and over-the-counter medicines and if, in fact, they can be proven to positively impact a person’s experience of disease and symptoms.”
Nowell also noted that “It’s vital that marijuana and CBD products are tested for their safety, dosing, and effectiveness in randomized controlled trials, which are the gold standard for understanding the risks and benefits of treating disease.” That’s why many people across different industries are pushing for more studies on cannabis and CBD to see if they could be a solid, long-term solution for arthritis patients.
