Are you or someone around you suffering from arthritis? Are you looking for organic ways to alleviate the pain?
According to the data provided by the Arthritis Foundation, over 54 million adults and 300,000 children in the United States alone suffer from the debilitating and excruciating pain of arthritis. On a global level, there are 91.2 million people who have come under the grasp of arthritis. Despite the medicinal advancements and therapies available today, the most shocking part of it is that the numbers are only growing.
While a majority of doctors may ask the patients to resort to painkillers to combat pain, they can be addictive. A lot of people are looking for organic ways to treat the pain, and cannabis can come to their aid. Cannabis is helping many people all around the globe to fight their battle against arthritis with its therapeutic properties. Do you wonder if cannabis can help you? Well, here is everything you should know about using cannabis for arthritis. Â
What is Cannabis?
Cannabis has been in the grey area for decades. It was not until a few years ago that this magical plant managed to get popular and legal in many countries. Now cannabis has become a household name, with people enjoying its benefits.
If you are still unaware of it, cannabis is a psychoactive plant that originated in the South-eastern countries. The plant has three different species, Sativa, Indica, and Ruderalis. Cannabis is gaining popularity owing to its medicinal properties that are helping people solve many physical and psychological disorders. The green plant contains over 600 different chemical compounds, out of which there are more than 65 cannabinoids. It is these cannabinoids that decide how cannabis will affect your body.
Among the many cannabinoids, CBD and THC are the more prominent ones. THC or Tetrahydrocannabinol is a high-inducing psychoactive element. It can induce a mind-altering high while calming your body and mind. On the contrary, CBD or cannabidiol is a non-psychoactive medicinal compound. CBD contains many nutrients that can enrich your body from within while helping you treat a wide array of health issues. While canada weed has high THC content, indica strains have more of CBD, and Ruderalis has a mix of both.Â
What is Arthritis?
People often tend to refer to joint inflammation like arthritis, but in reality, it is much more. Arthritis is a wider term used to describe 200 different conditions that can affect your joints, the tissues surrounding it, and any other connective tissue. It can cause immense pain, decreased motion, stiffness in the joints, and swelling in or around joints.Â
There can be many different types of arthritis, but we can broadly categorize it into the following:
1. Degenerative arthritis:
Degenerative arthritis is commonly known as osteoarthritis. It is a type of disorder where the cartilage or the cushioning on the ends of the bones wears off. It leads to the bones rubbing off against each other, causing pain, stiffness, and swelling. Over time, the joints lose all strength, and the pain becomes permanent.
People who have a previous injury, excessive weight, family history, and old age can be prone to developing osteoarthritis. You can prevent it by staying active, maintaining your weight, and avoiding repetitive movements. Similarly, people who are suffering from osteoarthritis can find some relief with hot and cold therapies, pain killers, and physical exercises. Many doctors today also recommend using medicinal marijuana to treat it.Â
2. Inflammatory arthritis:
 Your immune system performs the task of generating internal inflammation that keeps all infections and bacteria away. When it comes to inflammatory arthritis, the immune system does not work properly. It starts attacking the joints with inflammation resulting in erosion of the joints. Inflammatory arthritis affects not only the joints but also the internal organs. Rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and gout are all kinds of inflammatory arthritis. Â
Both environmental factors and genetics can lead to this type of arthritis. Doctors usually recommend more than one medication to reduce the damage caused by the immune system and to manage the symptoms. You can check out the best CBD pills online to manage the arthritis related pain.Â
3. Metabolic arthritis:
The human cells and some foods contain purines. When the body starts breaking down this substance, it leads to the production of uric acid. Excessive uric acid can form crystals in the body, which can cause immense pain or a gout attack. While gouts are temporary, they can become chronic if the level of uric acid does not go down.Â
4. Infectious arthritis:
Infectious arthritis can happen when a fungus, bacteria, or virus enters the joint and causes inflammation. Food poisoning, eating contaminated food, hepatitis C, gonorrhea, and chlamydia can make you prone to bacteria that cause infectious arthritis. If the infection gets detected timely and you take antibiotics, you can gain control over the infection.
How does Cannabis work?
Amid plenty of physical therapies and medications, cannabis is emerging as an effective natural solution for arthritis.
The human body contains a unique endocannabinoid system (ECS), which is a complex cell-signaling system. It is the ECS that regulates your memory, sleep, appetite, mood, and even reproductive health. The system produces two natural cannabinoids, known as Anandamide (AED) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) cannabinoids, to interact with the cells, hormones, and organs of your body. The endocannabinoid system sends these cannabinoids throughout the body. They bind themselves to the CB1 and CB2 receptors to change how you feel or react to external stimuli. While you can find the CB1 receptors in the central nervous system, the CB2 receptors are present in the peripheral nervous system, majorly in the immune cells.
When the level of these cannabinoids change, it can change your mood, making you feel sad and low. It can even heighten the pain that you experience.
The cannabinoids made by your body and the ones present in cannabis are identical. When you consume cannabis, you also ingest cannabinoids like CBD and THC. They attach to the receptors to alter your body process and emotions. THC is a psychoactive element that binds to both CB1 and CB2 receptors. It can get you high and also reduce your stress and anxiety. CBD, on the other hand, ensures that the cannabinoids do not break down. The medicinal properties of CBD can help reduce pain and inflammation. There are plenty of cannabis strains and cannabis products that you can get from a trusted company like weedsmart that can get you relief.    Â
Can Cannabis help with arthritis?
The medicinal benefits of cannabis also extend to arthritis. Many people who have this joint disorder report benefitting from this magical plant. Here is how cannabis can help deal with arthritis:
1. Help treat rheumatoid arthritis:
 Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common form of this disorder. There is no cure for this auto-immune disease. Over the last few years, the doctors have come up with a cannabis-based medicine, called Sativex, to treat rheumatoid arthritis. It can stop the immune system from attacking the joints, thus preventing the disease. By using cannabis, you can also reduce the pain and stiffness in joints.  Â
2. Reduce debilitating pain:
Arthritis can cause immense pain affecting your mobility. It also disrupts your normal life by hindering you from carrying out the daily tasks. Using cannabis can help bring you instant relief from the pain. The cannabinoids present in cannabis bind with the receptors and change how your brain reacts to the external stimuli, thus bringing down the pain instantly and giving you much-needed relief.Â
3. Bring down inflammation:
Cannabis is also known for its anti-inflammatory properties. The cannabinoids interact with the receptors to bring down inflammation. They attach themselves to the various organs of your body to initiate change. When these cannabinoids reach the bloodstream, they can go to the affected area to bring down inflammation.
4. Improves muscle soreness:
Soreness and stiffness in muscles are very common for people who are suffering from any type of arthritis. Taking cannabis can bring down the pain, and also help get over the soreness in your muscles and joints. If you were not able to move freely, regular and regulated intake of cannabis could help you get back your mobility back as well. Cannabis can also help repair your muscles if there is any damage.Â
How to use cannabis for arthritis?
Cannabis is a very versatile plant that you can use in multiple ways. If you are trying to figure out the most suitable method of consuming cannabis for arthritis pain, here are a few easy ideas for you:
1. Orally:
 The most convenient way of consuming cannabis is through oral methods. With these methods, the cannabis passes through the digestive system and reaches the affected body part via the bloodstream.Â
- Oil: The cannabis oil and CBD oil are readily available on the market today. You can directly ingest a few drops of oil or take it sublingually. For sublingual consumption, you can put 5-6 drops of the oil under your tongue and hold it for 30 seconds before swallowing it in. The capillaries under your tongue will quickly absorb the cannabinoids and send them to the body part where you feel pain, to bring instant relief. The effects of the oil kick in within 15-25 minutes and the relief might last for 4 to 6 hours. Â
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- Capsules: If you don’t like the nutty taste of cannabis, you can opt for CBD capsules. They let you enjoy the same goodness of the plant without experiencing the flavor. The capsules take longer to start showing effects, but you can also feel the effects for about 6 to 8 hours.      Â
2. Topicals:
Creams or lotions that have cannabis-infused in them are called topicals. They are an excellent way to treat localized pain. You can directly apply them to your skin to get the desired results. Your skin absorbs the cannabinoids, and they bind with the CB2 receptors present in the skin. The cannabinoids start relieving you of the pain and muscle soreness instantly. If you want something more natural, you can use cannabis oil directly on your skin. The onset of cannabis topicals is 10-20 minutes, and you can keep the pain away for at least 3 hours.
3. Edibles:
Edibles are alternative food and drinks that have cannabis in them. The markets today are brimming with food products like gummy bears, cookies, brownies, and even coffee that have cannabis-infused in them. You can either indulge in these ready-made edibles or make your own at home. To make your own edibles, all you have to do is add the cannabis oil or isolate it to your favorite food and drink. Since the body has to digest the edible first, it can take a while to start feeling the effect. Depending upon the concentration of cannabis you consume, the effects can last for 5 to 10 hours. Alternatively, one can also buy seeds online and incorporate in their daily diet in various cooking dishes to reap benefits. Â
4. Inhaling:
 The oldest method of consuming cannabis is smoking it. People have been smoking the plant for centuries, for both recreational and medicinal reasons alike. Here is the traditional and the modern method of inhaling cannabis:
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- Smoking: You can roll the plant matter in a joint or blunt to produce smoke that you can inhale. With the smoke, you also inhale the cannabinoids which go into your lungs and then pass through your bloodstream. They travel through the bloodstream to the affected area in an instant and relieve you of the pain. You can feel the effects of cannabis kick in instantly and get instant relief from the pain.
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- Vaping: Vaping is the modern way of inhaling cannabinoids. You can invest in an electric vaporizer that heats the substance to produce vapor that you can inhale. Different kinds of vapes can allow you to heat either the cannabis plant, its concentrates, or a vape juice that contains cannabinoids. Vaping is a much healthier and convenient alternative as it avoids combustion. It is the fastest way to get relief since you get high potency of cannabinoids in every frag, which gets to the affected area in no time and the effects can last for 1-2 hours.   Â
Final Thoughts
Arthritis is a common ailment that is affecting the lives of millions of people around the globe. It can cause excruciating pain and discomfort, disrupting your normal life. If you are tired of using synthetic painkillers and switching between therapies, you can opt for the organic goodness of cannabis. It can help you heal from within, repair the torn muscles, and get rid of the pain and stiffness without any toxic effects. You can consult with your physician and start using cannabis to live a better life. Get yourself cannabis or cannabis products today from an online store or local dispensary and kick arthritis out of your life for good.
