People looking for a safer pain reliever are turning to the natural therapeutic effects of CBD Oils. Should CBD be part of your pain-management regimen? We dig into the scientific research.

There is a prescription drug epidemic in the UK, with more and more people using prescription pain killers which can have a devastating effect when relied upon for extended periods. We even take them every time we get a headache, without even giving it a second thought. But what if the next time you felt one coming on you instead reached for your CBD Oil instead?

CBD has a lot of health related claims against it, such as preventing stress and anxiety but according to research, out of the 62 percent of people who use CBD to treat a medical condition, most use it to manage chronic pain, arthritis and joint pain.

So is CBD Oil really an effective pain killer? We turn to the science to find out.

What types of pain can CBD help with?

Before digging into the research, it's helpful to understand how experts classify "pain." There are 3 main categories of pain we will talk about.

Neuropathic pain

Neuropathic pain arises from damage to the nervous system itself, central or peripheral, either from disease, injury, or pinching. Think: carpal tunnel syndrome or sciatica. 

Unlike most other types of pain, neuropathic pain does not usually get better with common painkillers, such as paracetamoland ibuprofen, and other medicines are often used. 

Acute, or nociceptive, pain

Nociceptive pain arises from various kinds of trouble in tissues, reported to the brain by the nervous system. This is the type of pain everyone is most familiar with, everything from bee stings and burns and toe stubs to repetitive strain injury, nausea, tumours, and inflammatory arthritis.

Obviously these kinds of pain can and do overlap. Some medical problems, like injuries, can affect both nerves themselves and other tissues, causing both kinds of pain.

Centralised pain

Nociceptive pain which is more like fibromyalgia or some of the other chronic overlapping pain conditions -- migraines, tension headaches -- that have been more difficult to characterise scientifically

Because the different types of pain don't always respond to medication the same way, so it is very difficult to say anything with certainty as it differs on a person-to-person basis. But, with that said, here's what researchers know so far.

So can CBD help with pain?

Although CBD doesn’t directly attach to CB1 or CB2 receptors, it still has a powerful effect on how we feel pain, as evidenced by myriad anecdotal reports and preliminary studies.

Research suggests that like THC, CBD influences CB2 receptors on immune cells and tells the body to dial down its inflammatory response. CBD may do this by blocking chemicals that trigger inflammation in the body.

CBD stops the body from absorbing anandamide, a compound associated with regulating pain. So, increased levels of anandamide in the bloodstream may reduce the amount of pain a person feels.

CBD can also indirectly affect CB1 receptors. By preventing the breakdown of anandamide, CBD is able to increase levels of this endocannabinoid, perhaps leading to improved mood and reduced pain levels.

CBD can also influence another receptor: TRPV1, also called vanilloid receptor 1 or the capsaicin receptor. TRPV1 helps regulate body temperature and influences how we feel pain.

When we eat a chili pepper, capsaicin acts on the TRPV1 receptors in our brain cells, making us feel that burning sensation we associate with spicy foods.

With repeated exposures, these brain cells no longer signal that burning sensation to our brain when capsaicin attaches to TRPV1. This may be why some people have a higher tolerance for spicy foods—their TRPV1 receptors have become desensitized.

But capsaicin does more than make our mouth burn when we eat spicy foods. It also has anti-inflammatory and anti-seizure properties.

The researchers think that CBD behaves in a similar way to capsaicin—except without giving that spicy sensation. Somehow CBD desensitizes TRPV1 receptors, reducing our pain response.

While we still don’t fully understand how CBD relieves pain in the body, it’s clear that it is affecting the body’s nervous system and inflammatory response in a way that reduces overall pain.

Observational studies asking the general public who take CBD oils why they use CBD and if it’s effective, tend to be quite positive. People report using CBD for anxiety, pain, sleep — all things that go hand-in-hand with chronic pain.

CBD is thought to work by reducing inflammation in the brain and nervous system via an effect on cannabinoid and other receptors, ion channels, anandamide (a substance that regulates our response to pain) and enzymes.

An extensive 2018 review on the use of cannabis and cannabidiol products for pain relief stated:

• 22 out of 29 trials investigating cannabinoid use for chronic non-cancer pain (neuropathic pain, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, and mixed chronic pain) found a significant analgesic effect and several reported improvements in other outcomes like sleep.