Many athletes, both professional and amateur, will struggle with muscle soreness after exercise. It’s a common problem, and although many people think that ‘pain is gain’, it can prevent you from working out as often as you’d like.
There are several methods that people have tried to limit or reduce that muscle soreness that is felt after exercise, otherwise known as increasing muscle recovery. One such method is the introduction of CBD into a daily routine to assist with muscle recovery. We explore the relationship between CBD and muscle recovery in more detail.
Why is muscle recovery important?
A day or two after exercise, it is common to experience a level of muscle soreness. When you work out, you often make tiny, microscopic tears in your muscle fibres and this area becomes inflamed. This can lead to tender muscles, swelling, pain and stiffness and muscle fatigue, making it hard to go back to your exercise quickly.
Athletes and active people will look for ways to decrease the muscle recovery period and reduce this soreness so that they can exercise more frequently. This is why more and more people are trying out CBD as a method for muscle recovery.
Why might CBD be good for muscle recovery?
The main reason why it is believed that CBD is beneficial for muscle recovery is that it has anti-inflammatory properties.
Your body reacts to the minor damage to your muscles caused during exercise by triggering the inflammation process, which stimulates blood flow to the affected area and should naturally repair the muscles over the following 48 hours. However, the inflamed area is often much larger than required and recovery can take a while, with additional soreness caused in the meantime.
According to research, CBD has anti-inflammatory properties which can help it to reduce the inflammation that occurs after intense exercise. This works to speed up the overall muscle recovery time and helps athletes get back to what they love quickly.
Another research article on the use of cannabis in athletics found that ‘there is no direct evidence of performance-enhancing effects in athletes’ but there were ‘potential beneficial effects of cannabis as part of a pain management protocol’.
Who should use CBD for muscle recovery?
It is thought that CBD can be used by all those wanting to pursue an active lifestyle, whether you are a serious athlete or just someone who enjoys exercise for fun and the many benefits it offers. Muscle soreness can be a very irritating thing to deal with if you exercise regularly and athletes may find that CBD helps them to have a more enjoyable experience, with fewer rest and recovery days required.
Many athletes also prefer to use something like CBD, which is derived from a plant and naturally-occurring, to more typical pharmaceutical painkillers and drugs which have been known to cause issues with addiction in the past.
What is the best way to use CBD?
How you integrate CBD into your daily routine is all down to personal preference. The most popular format for CBD is probably CBD oil, which you can find in differing strengths depending on your needs. At Swiss Original Cannabis, for example, we have a 5% full spectrum CBD oil for beginners and a 10% full spectrum CBD oil for more experienced users.
If you experience pain in particular areas after an exercise session, you might also want to try applying CBD topically. You can use something like a CBD balm and rub it into the inflamed area to try and reduce those feelings of soreness.
It’s best to try a few different methods to see what works for you, and perhaps take a look and see what other people have tried.
It is best to speak to a medical professional before introducing a new supplement like CBD into your daily routine, but many have found it beneficial for muscle recovery.
