Football match tackles are rough, and they feel like a car crash. If you’re getting hit thirty times a game, that takes a major toll on the body. For a lot of sports players, this is what they do, and when they do this back to back, most of the time they’re on some painkillers including tramadol, fentanyl, or naproxen to help with this. The problem with that is that it can soon become something you’re dependent on, and they’re not your friend. With over sixty percent of athletes relying on ibuprofen and other anti-inflammatories to help with recovery and performance, it’s clear that opioid addiction is slowly becoming a reality in the world of professional sports.
The situation
There are a lot of doctors that continue to prescribe opioids to those who play sports, and about 11 million people misuse prescription opioids, with over 42,000 in the year 2016 alone dying of opioid overdose. This has grown immensely over the years, with the trend continuing way past the pandemic as well.
Players are more likely to misuse these pain killers more than the general public did, and according to a survey done by ESPN, about 71% of the people who used opioids were misusing them. this was also found that NFL players were discovered to be 3x more likely to misuse this compared to the regular public. Seeing that this comes with some major side effects, some players have actually sued, with 1800 of them suing the NFL for this, and it is aimed to push them on the field, without them having health benefits that’ll help them as well. But there is a chance that you could possibly use something else, that something else being medical cannabis.
Can Marijuana really work?
In response to the current epidemic, a lot are turning to using marijuana to help. This is something that is a bit better on the body, since opioids start to eat at the liver and kidneys as well over time. This is something that can also help with managing the pain a lot better, especially if you’re worried about possibly not managing it correctly. With cannabis, you’ll be able to function at a rate that you want to, without having to resort to risky drugs.
According to a study by medical cannabis users, a lot say that marijuana offers relief similar to painkillers, without the effects, and this has helped them reduce the dosages of the opioid that they’ve taken. About 81% of the cannabis patients surveyed also agreed that marijuana was a lot more beneficial to the body, rather than just combining it with other opioids and drugs.
In another study, it was found that when you use marijuana with opioids, it actually lowered the effects, and it helped make them a lot better and easier for you, lowering the chances of overdose. This can help with those who are relying on this.
Marijuana and CTE
CTE is a brain disease that happens in those who get concussions a lot, sub concussive hits, and other brain trauma that’s repetitive. This is very common in high contact sports, and it can result in a lot of problems down the line, including brain trauma and neurodegeneration.
Some studies actually found that cannabis does help with blood flow, and it reduces brain toxicity. Unfortunately, it’s not available legally everywhere, but this is something that, with the right steps needed and the right actions taken, you can get the benefits out of this, and it’s something a lot of users of different opioids are able to really get a lot of benefits from, and something that they can rely on.