The professional sports world is always fraught with injuries that often affects athletes for the rest of their lives. Dealing with pain and other illnesses is often going to mean doctors prescribing pharmaceutical drugs to manage the issue.
CBD is now becoming an alternative to these drugs, even though the medical community hasn’t always considered it as an option.
Fortunately, many athletes are now using CBD to help their physical health and fitness. Take a look at athletes already using it and the conditions it’s helping.
CBD and Sports: Helping Professional and Amateur Athletes
You’ll find evidence that not only professional athletes are using CBD, but also amateur ones. They’re discovering CBD doesn’t have a psychoactive effect like other cannabinoids do, which already makes it attractive.
Most of all, it’s a safe alternative to pain medications without worry about it being addictive. Thanks to regulating immune cells and reducing inflammation, you can see why athletes want to gravitate toward CBD use.
Yet, in recent years, the World and U.S. Doping Agencies didn’t allow the use of it in professional sports. This changed last year when CBD was finally approved for use by all competitive athletes.
Now the race is on to see which athletes use it next to prove the value of combining CBD and sports.
Use of CBD in the NFL
There isn’t any more dangerous sport than professional football, especially when it comes to experiencing lifelong physical pain. When Tennessee Titans linebacker Derrick Morgan announced he used CBD a couple of years ago, it raised some eyebrows at the time.
The only reason it surprised some is because many still equated CBD to using regular cannabis with high THC. With more education, athletes now understand it’s not the same thing, despite being from the same cannabis plant.
What makes Morgan’s use of it so significant is that he’s advocated others in the NFL to use CBD. Despite Morgan getting the credit for snowballing use, offensive tackle Eugene Monroe was really the first to use the drug.
Both have done extensive research on their own on how CBD helps as a major pain reliever.
CBD Use in the UFC
The mixed martial arts industry isn’t quite as popular as the NFL, though it can create as much injury in the athletes.
Mixed martial artist Gina Mazany was one member of the UFC who decided to try CBD after the World Doping Agency lifted the ban.
She’s since become a huge advocate for other mixed martial artists to mix CBD and sports. Mazany says she uses it to calm her anxiety before competing in her fights. Since her use, mixed martial-arts fighter Nate Diaz says he also uses CBD to keep himself pain-free after suffering physical injuries.
More Mixed Martial-Arts Fighters Using CBD
It seems many MMA athletes are discovering CBD and using it to their advantage. One other UFC athlete delved into CBD to keep his body from breaking down.
Chris Camozzi uses the drug as a supplement to help him stay in shape. He used CBD initially to help him overcome a knee injury.
Former Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter Pascal Parker is another compelling story of CBD use. When he became addicted to opioids due to severely injuring two vertebrae, Pascal turned to CBD as a way to save his life.
Parker uses CBD as a topical application to help his neck that still afflicts him today.
The Future of CBD and Sports
Some other examples are out there of athletes using CBD, including in professional cycling. But many in sports who take CBD warn about buying products you’re not sure about, especially on the internet. It pays to research what’s out there as some companies scam you on the amount of CBD used.
If you’re going to take CBD in your particular sport, you’ll want to make the approval official from the World and U.S. Doping Agencies. Contact them about blood and urine collection processes where they’ll do a sample analysis and possibly keep a sample in storage for up to a decade.
