`Pain is a generic name and it incorporates a wide variety of unpleasant sensory experience that is usually associated with tissue damage. There are three types of pain, namely: Nociceptive pain, nociceptive inflammatory pain and neuropathic pain. Two of the biggest benefits of CBD is its analgesic quality and is a better alternative to opioid painkillers due to its lack of side effects. So, how is CBD useful in relieving pain?
Before discussing CBD pain relief, let us understand about the 3 different types of pain in detail.
Nociceptive Pain: It is the pain that you experience when there is any kind of tissue injury or damage. Some examples are ankle sprain, burn from a hot object or any kind of pain associated with injury and its purpose is to make you aware of the injury.
Nociceptive Inflammatory Pain: Once there is any kind of tissue damage or injury, our body initiates inflammatory response to heal the damage. This results in swelling and pain, examples are pain due to broken bones, cuts or wounds, arthritis pain etc.
Neuropathic Pain: Neuropathic pain occurs due to damage or injury to nerve tissue and sometimes they are very sensitive to touch. It can also be due to some abnormality in the glutaminergic system. Glutamate is a chemical used for nerve cell communication and abnormalities in the system can lead to pain.
How CBD Is Useful In Reducing Pain?
CBD is useful as it reduces the release of glutamate and other inflammatory chemicals. In some cases nociceptive inflammatory pain and neuropathic pain happen together. Once the wound is healed, the former stops, but the latter persists due to unhealed nerve damage. In such cases, CBD is only useful to reduce the pain from tissue damage and inflammation. So, CBD is more useful in reducing nociceptive pain and nociceptive pain due to inflammation. Also, some studies have shown that a combination of CBD and THC is more effective in managing pain.
When consumed with other anti-inflammatory medicines or supplements, CBD can give better relief for inflammation as well as the pain due to it. Besides, its enhancement of the immune system plays a critical role in wound healing, as well as reducing the intensity of neuropathic pain. Pain causes the release of stress inducing hormone cortisol that can inhibit or slow down the healing process; cannabidiol reduces its release and helps in accelerated healing.
So, CBD to treat pain can be effective only if the root cause of the pain is understood and used accordingly. Also the CBD dosage for pain depends on the cause as well as the intensity of pain.