Rob Grownkowski knows first-hand about the pain that can be associated with being a professional athlete. In fact, Rob retired from his nine-year professional football career due to pain and injuries he had while playing that eventually took a toll on his mental health. But funnily enough, it was a soccer game that helped him find something that could be the key to pain management in his future.
Rob was playing a competitive game of barefoot soccer with his girlfriend when he jammed his toes. As they turned black and blue, someone offered him some CBD cream to help. It didn’t just work, it worked fast. Rob was able to continue playing the soccer game. This discovery led Rob to become an advocate for CBD, even saying that if he’d used CBD during his playing days, his pain from could have been lessened. Derrick Morgan of the NFL has also joined the many advocates for CBD use, pushing for more research about how CBD can benefit athletes specifically. He’s a huge advocate for research, and knows that CBD has the potential to change how athletes recover.
Whether you’re a professional athlete like Rob Gronkowski and Derrick Morgan, or you’re a workout enthusiast who trains like a pro, you’ve probably come to expect some aches and pains associated with your training. While some discomfort as a result of strenuous exercise can be normal, professionals and their trainers are always on the lookout for products that can improve recovery time in between workouts and even give relief during injury. That’s why the professional football players mentioned above, along with many other athletes are turning to CBD for all their recovery needs.
You may be wondering if CBD will live up to all the hype. Is there really the potential for increased recovery capacity after workouts and injury? Let’s talk about how the body promotes muscle growth and heals injury through the inflammatory response, and why CBD is a great option to enhance these processes.
How Does the Body Use Inflammation?
When resistance is placed on muscles, which happens when you exercise, microscopic tears in the muscle tissues happen. While this is completely normal, an inflammatory response is part of the initial phase of your muscles healing and growing back. This process takes a few days and, like mentioned before, includes inflammation as your body works to heal itself. When inflammation happens, it’s usually associated with what we call “muscle soreness.” But it's important to remember that the sooner we can get the inflammation to subside, the sooner the other phases of the healing process can occur. The sooner we heal, the sooner we can get back to our regular training regimen, and the cycle continues.
Beyond sore muscles from going to the gym, sometimes injuries can happen when you work out and train regularly. Anytime you sprain your ankle or pull a muscle, your body sends signals to the immune system to go into overdrive to heal the injury. This can lead to higher amounts of inflammation as your body works to help you. While it seems like a good thing, this much inflammation can cause pain and can put pressure on your nerves, tendons, and ligaments. You want to help your body lower the inflammation, reducing the pressure and increasing your blood flow. Reducing the inflammation is the first step to treating an injury, and getting you back to full health.
How Does CBD Reduce Inflammation?
When you’re sore or injured from a rough workout, you probably instantly think of rest, ice, compression, and elevation to help you feel better. But this might not be enough. Your body needs something to help kick-start an anti-inflammatory response. CBD is high in cannabinoids, and our bodies can use those specific cannabinoids as a natural kick-start for the anti-inflammatory process.
Our body has an endocannabinoid system that is a network responsible for regulating our body’s functions. When your endocannabinoid system gets depleted, your body isn’t able to regulate things like inflammation correctly. Then if you get injured or your muscles get strained, your endocannabinoid system won’t be able to help reduce the inflammation when it should. That’s where CBD comes in. CBD can help strengthen your endocannabinoid system and regulate your body’s functions.
Cannabinoids have been associated with suppressed inflammatory responses through multiple pathways in the body. Basically, CBD helps your body calm the inflammatory response, and lets you move onto the next phase of healing faster.
Ready to Try CBD for Yourself?
Next time you’re packing your gym bag, don’t forget to throw in a Kowa to help you hydrate, and give your body some needed CBD. You may be surprised at how quickly it helps you get past the inflammation stage of a rough workout or injury and on to the healing portion of your recovery process.
