CBD and Muscle Pain: Can CBD help my muscles recover after working out?

CBD: THE RUNDOWN

If you haven’t heard yet- CBD is one of hundreds of cannabinoids that’s recently been legalized in the US and North Carolina. CBD is harvested from industrial grade hemp containing less that 0.3% THC. This low THC threshold means that CBD does not inebriate you or provide any sensations of being high. CBD isolate and broad spectrum CBD is intended to provide what is called the entourage effect; basically it affects your endocannabinoid system in a way that could promote relaxation. It doe NOT make you high.

So now you understand a little more about what CBD is (and what it’s not). Let’s talk about what CBD can do for people that experience muscle pain or soreness.


                                         What causes muscle soreness

Muscle soreness and fatigue is a normal part of life and can occur for all different reasons. If you’re a serious athlete you probably consider muscle fatigue to be a guarantee! But muscle soreness can also occur for people that have physically demanding jobs, that sit in uncomfortable desk chairs for hours at a time, and even for those that find themselves sleeping uncomfortably and waking up with pains and aches.

Today we’re going to focus more on what happens when physical exercise and movement causes stress on muscles. Just know that when we talk about how CBD could help alleviate those pains it applies to all types of muscle aches. Whatever your reason for physical discomfort, there’s a good chance CBD could possibly help. Read on to learn more.


                                               Exercise and soreness

Soreness after rigorous physical activity is common for athletes and people with consistent workout routines. For many an intense workout not followed with muscle fatigue is considered a disappointment! People equate soreness to efficiency. But that’s not necessarily the case! Muscle fatigue isn’t necessary for having a productive day in the gym. In fact recovery and self care is an integral part for growth; not wallowing in pain. And CBD could help. We’ve got some science to follow up with.

DOMS is Delayed Onset Muscle soreness and according to the NHS  occurs when your muscles work harder than they’re used to or in a different way. When this intense use occurs it’s believed to cause small, microscopic tears to the muscle fibers, resulting in soreness and stiffness.

So if you’re wondering what causes that athletic muscle soreness- it basically has to do with whenever your muscles are moving in a new and different way. You could have an amazing day at the gym pushing yourself and giving 100% and not experience any soreness because it’s a routine you consistently do. So just know that while DOMS is typical for those who frequent the gym, it’s not a guarantee! You don’t have to feel sore to feel successful.

Before we get into possible treatments, let’s talk preventative. If you hate that after workout soreness, one thing you can practice is awareness when trying something new. If you’re switching up your routine and working out new muscles, ease into the program. Don’t over extend yourself and you could make strides in your athletic fitness without incurring muscle soreness or fatigue.

Now let’s talk recovery. If you’ve ever consistently suffered from DOMS, you know that it sucks. It's painful and recovery is a critical piece of getting stronger so that you can routine to your workouts and optimize performance. Your muscles actively work to fix those small tears and repair whatever traumas were sustained to the muscles. This portion can get a little confusing and dense- going into the specifics would be discussing molecular biology, and we don’t want to over load the information. So we’ll try to keep it the science simple and to the point!


It's important that we acknowledge that medical research and experts are not able to conclusively say that CBD is guaranteed to help alleviate muscle soreness. Everybody’s system is different- but DOMS sucks. So if you’re looking to get back out there CBD is worth a try. Will it cure your pain? No, it won’t. Could it potentially make it more bearable? It could!

Do you hit the gym bright and early? If you’re someone who loves to wake up before the sun and workout first thing, you shoul keep reading. Sleep is twice as important for you.

Sleep is a critical piece to bodily recovery and is even referred to in the industry as being the “ultimate performance enhancer”. Yup, sleep is pretty much everything when talking about getting your body back on track, so for those waking up early to work out it’s twice as critical. That’s where CBD can come in.

The Hemp Farmacy has some lines of products (capsules and edibles) engineered to utilize CBD and help you sleep. These restful concoctions could potentially help your body go to sleep easier. Ideally CBD sleep capsules would give you that “I slept for eight hours and feel like a new human” kind of vibe.

Muscle pain and joint pain make working out that much harder; so if you’re working out in the afternoon and looking for additional relief consider utilizing our topicals. Topical CBD treatments consolidate CBD and creates the entourage effect in a localized and contained manner. What does this mean for your muscles? It means that where you put it should be where it works; and it’s possible to feel relief and relaxation of the muscles where it’s applied after use.

So, using CBD as a part of your pre-workout routine might be a good move for you.

That being said, the most common time to take CBD is post workout. If you’re looking for a post workout CBD option, pretty much anything in our line of products will suffice. Using topicals for a localized option is a great way to get started; but tinctures, capsules or pre-rolls could also be a way to experience an entourage effect and alleviate muscle pain.

Like we said, nothing with CBD is guaranteed, but clinical studies does make it look like it could be a helpful option in combating muscle fatigue. We do now that CBD has anti-inflammatory properties, so using it as a way to calm inflamed muscles could be productive. Visit the link below to shop our product line and find an option that works best for you and your fitness routines.