Sports physiologists and researchers are still figuring out what cannabis and specific cannabinoids can do for recovery and pain. As you'd expect, there's a mix of preliminary very specific results and more general claims about anti-inflammation and relaxation. Broadly, THC - the psychoactive compound in cannabis - won't make you faster, but it can help pain become less noticeable.
Topicals Hit The Sore Spot Directly
If you have a knee or shoulder that hurts after a workout, using a topical balm or transdermal cream may be the best treatment option available. When you apply a CBD-infused topical to your skin, you activate the cannabinoid receptors in the skin and the area right underneath. This can help decrease inflammation in the specific area where you're hurting. Since the compound doesn't enter the bloodstream in high amounts, there is no psychoactive effect because it stays directly where you applied it.
This is why topicals are the preferred option for the type of muscle soreness that doesn't appear until a day or two after a workout - meaning that hard leg day is making it impossible to climb stairs. Before you go to sleep, apply the topical to your muscle group that is sore. Many users say that the pain is significantly less noticeable the next day. While these won't help you recover from a tear or strain in your muscle, this low-risk method can be a good first step.
Tinctures Work Fast When Soreness Is Everywhere
Liquid extracts taken sublingually are more effective for generalized pain, as they quickly enter the bloodstream and therefore have faster effects. Tinctures are marijuana extracts made with alcohol or glycerin, whereas oils are extracts made with a carrier oil such as coconut or olive oil.
Tinctures tend to have a greater bioavailability because they are alcohol based. Many cannabis dispensaries, including bulk suppliers like www.bulkcannabis.cc, carry tinctures and oils and will also be able to tell you the bioavailability of those products. The bioavailability of liquid extracts varies widely, depending on the exact chemicals present in the extract, preparation methods, the size and lipid distribution of individual patients and the exact process used to measure bioavailability. An appropriate dose is 1-2 drops of the liquid extract.
Edibles Cover The Overnight Window
Here's where sleep plays a role. Sleep is perhaps the most effective recovery tool that athletes possess. During deep sleep, growth hormone increases and muscle tissue is rebuilt. Even if your nutrition is excellent, if your sleep is disturbed, your recovery will be incomplete.
Edibles and gummies can help with this. They have a slower onset time, sometimes over an hour, but the effects can last for several hours, which often covers the amount of time you want to be sleeping. For example, the 2019 case series in The Permanente Journal that reports 66.7% of participants using CBD had improved sleep scores in the first month is right in line with what many athletes report anecdotally: fewer wake-ups, less difficulty getting back to sleep, and feeling less like a truck hit them in the morning.
Microdosing THC Without Losing The Next Day
CBD-only products attract most of the interest since they don't cause intoxication and haven't since 2018 been prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency. THC is still a competition no-go according to WADA, so if you get tested, it's still an issue. On non-training days, however, or in periods of especially challenging work, travel, and competition, some athletes will microdose with THC), typically between 2.5 and 5 mg, to achieve pain relief and a quick dive into relaxation with minimal impairment. It's a small enough amount that you're not foggy the next morning, but it's enough to dull the sensations of pain and anxiety that can ruin a full night of rest.
Too little and nothing happens. Too much and you feel impaired the next day. Start small. Increase slowly over a couple of weeks.
Building It Into An Actual Wellness Routine
None of these forms of the product do you much good if you try them once and then you give up on them. The athletes who benefit most view the product as one facet of a treatment plan, no different from how they'd also rely on stretching, hydration, getting to bed at roughly the same time every night and any combination of ice baths / compression gear / specific physio exercises you do for maintenance or to work around an injury. Used here and there, it's a novelty. Used daily or after every workout, it's your regimen.
Part of that is having the right product available. A lot of people use a topical as they need it, a tincture for broad, fast-acting relief, and edibles overnight for long-lasting relief, but that can add up if you're popping by the store every week for a single unit of each. Buying in bulk can make it more affordable, but more importantly it means you'll always have product available when you need it.
The Format Matters More Than The Plant
Recovery with cannabis is different for everyone, and that's exactly why some people try it once and then leave it. Choose the right product according to the problem: topicals for isolated and specific problems, tinctures when you want it to take effect quickly, edibles for a good night's sleep, and microdosing THC when you want to just relax and don't want to get high. When you match the right product, it's not a fad, it's an effective lifestyle change.
