Does CBD Help With Muscle Spasms?
People are seeking natural alternatives for almost everything they use. Families are making active efforts to eliminate unnecessary chemicals from their lives and replace them with better products for the earth and better for their bodies. It’s an admirable effort that benefits the planet, and in many cases, effective natural alternatives exist.
The lines get a little blurry when it comes to natural alternatives to medicines. While CBD has been clinically demonstrated and approved as a medication for certain conditions, it hasn’t yet been properly reviewed to help treat muscle spasms. That doesn’t mean that CBD may not play a role in the wellness ritual of someone who lives with muscle spasms.
What Causes Muscle Spasms?
There are a variety of conditions that can cause muscle spasms. Muscle spasms stemming from serious causes are typically rare. For most people, muscle spasms are temporary or stem from an issue that’s easy to resolve.
Muscle spasms can be symptoms of nutrient deficiencies, with magnesium deficiency being the most common cause. Calcium deficiency can produce similar effects. In most cases, incorporating more magnesium and calcium into your diet will cause muscle deficiency-related muscle spasms to resolve within a short period of time.
Dehydration, muscle fatigue from exercise, or injury relating to the overuse of muscles can cause muscle spasms. Athletes are very prone to muscle spasms when increasing the intensity of their training. People very new to exercise may experience muscle spasms as a result of inadvertently overestimating their athletic ability.
Stress can even contribute to muscle spasms. People with stress carry more tension in their bodies, which impacts the way the body works.
How Are Muscle Spasms Treated?
Unless muscle spasms are indicative of a severe condition, treatment for them is very simple. Adequate hydration, a balanced diet, and plenty of rest are usually sufficient to resolve idiopathic muscle spasms.
If your muscle spasms are severe, frequent, and last for more than a few days, it’s best to talk to your doctor about treatment options. You may need to be tested for dietary deficiencies or electrolyte imbalances that can contribute to muscle spasms. Your doctor will tell you what to do in the meantime. While you’re at your appointment, you can mention CBD to your doctor and get an opinion before you use it.
Can CBD Be Used for Muscle Spasms?
The answer to this question gets a little complicated. The overwhelming majority of studies and clinical trials that have tested cannabinoids for their ability to relieve muscle spasms used whole cannabis. This means that both THC and CBD were administered to participants.
The most compelling evidence for CBD as a treatment for muscle spasms was a drug trial for Sativex, a prescription 1:1 THC to CBD ratio cannabis-derived oral mucosal spray.
The study ultimately found that Sativex has a positive effect on symptoms of muscle spasticity in patients living with multiple sclerosis. The drug was approved in Canada and brought to market. The United States has not currently approved Sativex or any drugs similar to Sativex.
CBD To Aid in Treatments
This is where things get tricky. While there is medically recognized evidence that CBD is effective in supporting treatment for muscle spasms, CBD was used in conjunction with THC.
The results can’t be separated or quantified by cannabinoid, with the two being delivered together in equal amounts. We don’t know if THC alone would work, if CBD alone would work, or if they need to be used together to produce that effect.
The rest of the evidence indicating that CBD may be effective for muscle spasms is anecdotal. It comes from medical cannabis users who prefer high CBD strains of cannabis. The term “high CBD strain” usually refers to cannabis that has much more CBD than THC. These patients self-report finding relief from muscle spasms, but their reports don’t completely remove THC from the equation.
Furthermore, there’s the issue of THC itself. Some people don’t feel comfortable ingesting THC. Some people live in states where THC is not legal for purchase without a medical cannabis license. Temporary muscle spasms wouldn’t qualify as a medical condition eligible for a medical cannabis card. That leaves CBD as the only option for most people.
Is CBD a Medicine?
In the United States, CBD is only FDA-approved to treat the symptoms of seizure disorders and reduce seizure frequency. Epidiolex is currently the only FDA-approved drug where the main constituent is a plant-derived cannabinoid. The FDA does not formally recognize any other medical value for CBD, including for the treatment of muscle spasms.
Should CBD Be Used for Muscle Spasms?
There’s a lack of high-quality research relating to CBD and muscle spasms. If you have muscle spasms, you need to speak to your doctor.
After a formal evaluation and a diagnosis for the cause of your muscle spasms, you can raise the question of CBD. If your doctor gives you the green light to try CBD, go ahead. If your doctor has a different plan in mind, it’s best to follow medical advice.
If you’re already being treated for muscle spasms, don’t introduce CBD into your routine without talking to your doctor. Your pharmacist may also be able to advise you of any known interactions between CBD and the medications you’re currently taking. It’s so much better to double-check and to be safe.
CBD can quickly become a part of your treatment routine if your muscle spasms are idiopathic or result from general muscle fatigue. CBD may not be directly medically correlated to relief from muscle spasms, but it still may be beneficial to promoting the overall wellness of people who experience muscle spasms.
Useful Benefits of CBD for People with Muscle Spasms
Even if CBD can’t directly address muscle spasms, it can address some of the other concerns that people with muscle spasms also experience. The broad benefits of CBD can be helpful to many people who deal with a wide variety of wellness concerns.
Promoting Better Sleep
People with muscle spasms often have difficulty getting to sleep, particularly if they have restless legs. At least one study has concluded that CBD may be beneficial for promoting sleep. Out of 72 adults who completed the study, 66% reported better sleep when using CBD.
At first, these numbers may not seem impressive. When you break down the categories of the study, it’s more impressive than researchers would have anticipated. The 72 patients became a part of the study because they had concerns about tension or poor sleep. Out of 72 people, 47 patients participated for stress and tension, and 25 participated for poor sleep.
Ultimately, 48 patients report better sleep. That’s more than double the amount of people who participated, citing sleep quality as their concern.
Easing Emotional Tension
Emotional tension correlates to physical tension, which can contribute to muscle spasms. In the study above, nearly 80% of patients reported decreased tension when using CBD. When emotional tension is reduced, physical tension is also reduced to some degree. The body is in a relaxed state, and the effects of muscle spasms may become less pronounced.
Using CBD Without the THC
Peels CBD is fresh-squeezed. We make it from orange peels. Not cannabis or hemp, but the rinds of the actual orange fruit. We use a unique cyclic terpene assembly process to convert naturally occurring compounds of orange peels into bioidentical CBD molecules. Your body won’t know the difference between hemp-derived CBD and orange-derived CBD.
Best of all, oranges don’t contain any THC at all. This makes Peels more suitable for most CBD wellness consumers than other types of CBD. It’s safe, non-psychoactive, and ready to become a part of your wellness ritual.
Sources:
Magnesium: The Often Forgotten Mineral | Office for Science and Society
Stress: Signs, Symptoms, Management & Prevention | Cleveland Clinic