Cannabis News
Cannabis in UK: Useful for Spinal Conditions
In the private sector, more medical cases and especially chronic pain conditions are being treated with medical cannabis in UK, thanks to evolution around the world in the thinking around the drug.
A range of spinal conditions fall under the umbrella term of degenerative disc disease (DDD), and comes with both physical and psychological factors.
Degenerative disc conditions often come with a number of physical injuries or mental stresses that can be exacerbated by current painkillers on the market, but research has shown that cannabinoids might be the key to treating things more holistically.
Any spinal condition that is caused by the degradation or degeneration of the discs in the spine can be referred to as a DDD. The entire spine from the cervical and thoracic, to the lumbar region, contains discs that sit between the sections of the spine. They help you stay flexible and act as a shock absorber between the bones.
Flexibility tends to descrease with time as these discs wear down and further vaying levels of pain may be felt, as we age, depending on their own personal level of fitness or genetics.
Regular changes within the spinal disc can cause pain and the discs themselves to deteriorate, which can start off a chain reaction of other unique symptoms.
Back pain: The next big market for medical cannabis
Back pain is one of the leading causes of both chronic pain and disability in our aging population, and results from multiple conditions.
DDD especially affects a person’s quality of life and can majorly inhibit their ability to function in the workplace.
Of course exercise is a good way to keep people in shape and keep them flexible, but too much activity can actually add to the damage, further deteriorating the discs that are already unhealthy.
Regeneration of tissue and a cells ability to divide and proliferate decline with age, making the body less able to heal itself. Degraded collagen is then accumulated throughout the body; especially along the spinal column.
Certain genes can cause a patient to have a higher risk of DDD, according to more recent studies. 5A allele polymorphism is a genetic marker that can be used to identify whether the spinal discs will degrade in an accelerated way.
More studies are now being carried out to determine the possibility of medical cannabis treating musculoskeletal conditions like DDD, and replacing current dangerous or more addictive medications on the market that are accessible for treating chronic pain.
Medical cannabis: An ancient tradition
A host of physical and mental conditions have been treated by cannabis as a medication for thousands of years. The multi-faceted marijuana plant is loaded with cannabinoids and terpenees, many of which are still not fully understood as modern research grows with its use.
One of the most commonly used compounds from the flower, CBD, is an anti-inflammatory that can inhibit the dispersal of molecules to the affected areas which usually fire the neurons that cause the body to become inflamed.
Cannabinoid receptors, part of the endocannabinoid system found all over the body in high concentration, react with CBD.
The immune and nervous systems that work in tangent with these receptors contain the “bliss molecule”, also known as anandamide.
The CBD can stop anandamide from degrading too quickly, which means it stays in the body longer and relieves pain, but also reduces inflammatory effects – simultaneously meaning that DDD conditions have a higher chance to heal quickly.
The other current issue with chronic pain and DDD in particular is that they are closely linked to mood and mental disorders like depression and anxiety that leave the patient in a bad psychological condition.
Anadamide also works here to uplift the patient’s mood and improve their mental wellbeing, holistically affecting them with one medication, rather than a cocktail of drugs.
Medical Cannabis for Degenerative Disc Disease
Depending on someone’s own tolerance to cannabis compounds, it can have some side-effects that are including and not limited to:
- Fatigue
- Memory loss
- Reduced appetite
- Mood swings
- Paranoia
- Dizziness
Understanding that many conditions have multiple and complex factors that affect the patient is important to stay aware of. People may have extremely degenerated spinal discs and never felt any symptoms of DDD, but in the same way it is possible to feel many of the symptoms but experience little degeneration of the spine.
Knowing that cannabis has the potential to holistically provide relief on both the physical and mental level, gives us more fuel for the fire of legalisation and regulation of cannabis in the UK.
The most important take-away is that with further research into the cannabinoids and terpenes in the flowers, more secrets and formulations can be unlocked, and different doses and administration methods may be found for different conditions.
