While many people experience daily pain from their arthritis, the cause of it can vary depending on the type of arthritis they have been diagnosed with. Cannabis is currently being researched and prescribed to patients who are looking for alternatives to traditional pain medications. Cannabinoids have been found to both reduce inflammation and to reduce pain signaling between pain receptors. When used under the guidance of a healthcare practitioner, Apollo’s patients have found great success by following their personalized dosing plan and using their medicine as needed.
How Can Cannabis Help Alleviate Arthritis Symptoms?
Rheumatoid Arthritis
While doctors are unsure what causes RA, there are certain genetic and environmental factors that may increase one’s risk.
Being an autoimmune disease, it often affects patient’s joints and causes inflammation. RA can also affect a wide variety of other systems in the body. As the immune system mistakenly attacks your own body, increased inflammation can often occur in the mornings or after long periods of rest. Pain is one of the most common reported symptoms of RA, and we have worked with thousands of patients at Apollo looking to find relief from a variety of symptoms.
Using Cannabis for Rheumatoid Pain
It has been noted in research that certain cannabinoids can act in our body to help with immune modulation. Because of this, more research is being done to show how medical cannabis can be used to treat inflammation by inhibiting the production of inflammatory mediators.
Medical cannabis can be used not only for pain but also to assist with improving sleep. Some of the positive benefits patients see compared to traditional medications include far fewer side-effects and being able to use their medical cannabis only when needed.
Using Cannabis for Osteoarthritis Pain
Studies have shown medical marijuana has been able to increase the activity of the cannabinoid receptor CB2 that is reduced by OA, helping reverse the effects of inflammation and therefore reducing pain and improving movement.
The natural compounds in medical marijuana make it a wonderful part of an overall Osteoarthritis and Arthritis treatment while helping downsize the potential for harmful side effects.
Typical Osteoarthritis Treatments
In Canada, osteoarthritis affects about 10% of the population. Symptoms typically only involve the joints, with common areas of stiffness and pain being the hands, spine, knees and hips.
While symptoms may progress quickly for some, the joint damage and pain caused by OA builds gradually over a period of years and the cause is always due to joint stress. This may be a result of a previously sustained injury, abnormal growth or genetic heredity.
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Hand pain:
Enlarged fingers, knobs on joints and stiff, aching pain makes tasks like opening jars difficult
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Spine pain:
Localized pain in the neck or lower back can inhibit activities like walking and moving about and may even affect bladder control
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Knee pain:
Swelling and pain may affect the ability to climb stairs, take baths/showers or sit down/stand up from furniture
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Hip pain:
Stiff hips, groin or thigh pain can inhibit the range of motion needed to dress or tie shoes
Having assisted thousands of patients diagnosed with both rheumatoid and osteoarthritis at our clinics, we wanted to share some of the most common questions we get, ensuring you have answers you may be looking for.
Check out our blog: The Most Common Medical Cannabis Questions From Arthritis Patients: Answered!
If you are interested in learning more about how medical cannabis can help you manage your symptoms, we offer free appointments across Canada where you can speak with an Apollo healthcare practitioner as well as our patient educators to find out if medical cannabis is right for you.
Apollo has seen countless patients who suffer from arthritis, osteoarthritis, inflammation and discomfort, and we look forward to helping you too!
