Athletes today are bigger stronger and faster than they were just a decade or so ago. Men and women are becoming more competitive thanks in part to technological advancements designed to improve workouts and recovery time as well as a better understanding of athlete physiology and the advent of new training exercises designed to maximize an athletes potential. With these innovations however come drawbacks. Playing a contact sport like football has become more dangerous as athletes pile on the muscles speed and agility. The rise of brain injuries like CTE as well as knee shoulder or back strains have resulted in increased usage of painkillers that have become alarmingly dangerous and addictive. The United States is currently in the middle of a national opioid addiction and overdose epidemic. In 2015 there were 20101 overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers. The same year heroin contributed to 12990 overdose deaths. In 2015 opioid overdose deaths surpassed gun homicides in the United States. This epidemic is only growing stronger in part because companies like Insys who makes the widely used and abused pain killer Fentanyl are getting involved in local politics. Theyre donating to politicians and other initiatives that could possibly contribute to the rise of painkiller use/abuse. These companies only seem to care about one thing and its not the health and well-being of Americans its money. Unfortunately the cavalier attitude towards prescription painkillers has trickled into sports. Doctors in professional sports are handing out painkillers like Fentanyl to the players like candy. As a result a growing number of former athletes mainly in the NFL suffer from opioid addiction problems creating the need for the NFL and other professional leagues to find alternatives to how to treat these persistent pain problems athletes face. One possible alternative to prescription painkillers may come from certain components of the cannabis plant. Recent studies have found that cannabis could possibly reduce inflammation acting almost like Tylenol.In fact when comparing the anti-inflammatory potency of THC and other drugs that are on the market THC has 20 times the anti-inflammatory potency of aspirin and twice as much as hydrocortisone (Evans 1991). How Cannabis Can Contribute to Pain and Inflammation Recovery Intense sports competition or physical activity can act as a stressor on the body resulting in the release of molecules called cytokines that have pro-inflammatory actions. Despite the long-term benefits of exercise there is no doubt that in the short-term high-intensity exercise leads to inflammation. Over time this can cause damage to muscle tissue leading to pain and soreness. There has been emerging evidence that cannabis reduces pain muscle spasms stiffness and inflammation in humans. In particular cannabis has been associated with the reduction in levels of specific pro-inflammatory cytokines. THC has been shown to stimulate production of some of the bodys natural painkillers such as beta-endorphin (Manzanares et al 1998). For this reason cannabis may help prevent the development of tolerance to and withdrawal from opiates (Cichewicz and Welch 2003). Think of it this way: an athlete may need to take a prescription opioid painkiller due to an injury that causes intense pain. But for injuries that cause long-term chronic pain the pain-reliving properties of opioids may be outweighed by their addictive potential. Cannabis isnt as potent a painkiller as opioids are but it can help with pain and inflammation and help athletes wean themselves from opioids. Plus compounds like CBD might actually be useful for decreasing the anxiety and withdrawal symptoms that can make it so difficult to stop taking opioids. More recently other compounds in the cannabis plant have been found to possibly help pain treatment. Some of the terpenoids and terpenes the fragrant oils that give cannabis its aromatic diversity also display numerous attributes that may be germane to pain treatment (McPartland and Russo 2001). Like cannabinoids terpenes bind to receptors in the brain and give rise to various effects. The above infographic outlines properties of six common cannabis terpenes along with a few strains that tend to express notable levels of each. Though different parts of the cannabis plant are showing promise when it comes to treating pain management as well as other medical conditions more research is needed. Research may be hard to come by though as cannabis is still federally illegal in the United States making it very challenging to get permission to do studies on cannabis. Former All-Pro NFL QB Jake Plummer Shares His Experiences with Cannabis Denver Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer looks for a receiver as he roles out of the pocket during the second quarter inan exhibition football game against the Houston Texans in Denver in this Aug. 27 2006 file photo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) Even though there is still room to be made with researching the possible medical benefits of consuming cannabis medicinally there are already people out there in the pro sports world rehabbing their beaten body with medicinal cannabis. One of those former pro athletes is former All-Pro quarterback for the Denver Broncos and Arizona Cardinals Jake Plummer. After playing 10 seasons in the NFL Plummer retired from the game in 2007 and would soon try to find something to help him deal with his lingering post-football injuries. The answer for Plummer was to consume cannabis and CBD to help fight the daily pain he was feeling after his playing career. Plummer told Leafly that he now regularly uses the CBD strain Charlottes Webin oil form. He takes the strain in liquid oil form out of a dropper at the beginning and end to his day. I wake up with a feeling of being refreshed no matter how much sleep I got even sometimes if I go see friends and have a few beers and then dont get the sleep I need even with a two-month old baby in the house right now I am still functioning at a high level Plummer told Leafly. I dont have those achy days with a headache or as often as I were. Plummer added that having a general overall feeling of health and well-being can be liberating especially after taking the punishment he did playing professional football for a decade. For this former professional athlete Charlottes Web oil and cannabis in general have helped speed up his recovery process though as Plummer said cannabis and CBD will not fix everything. It is not going to fix my L5 spondylolisthesis or some other injuries that happened to me leaving parts of my body compromised but I can tell you this: The pain and feelings of pain and stiffness and occasional debilitating pain that I used to have when I would be active in any wayis gone now he said. Now if I go kick some ass and go play some handball and do a bunch of crazy stuff I am going to be sore. But Ive also kind of found out how to recover much quicker and that is taking a little extra helping of the oils. Gage Peake Gage Peake is a staff writer who specializes in breaking news coverage politics and sports. The post Can Cannabis Help with Inflammation for Athletes? appeared first on Leafly. by Gage Peake at Leafly