If you are looking for information on CBD oil for arthritis pain and you live in Canada then go no further and read this article. If you are one of the 6 million people in Canada (1 in 5) and suffer from arthritis, from the bottom of my heart I am sorry. I realize how an ailment like arthritis can affect your quality of life. Maybe you were passed along this article from a friend or maybe you stumbled across it while searching for CBD oil for arthritis. However, you found us we are glad you are here. In the following article, we will go in-depth and explain a little bit about CBD oil and CBD products and how it can help you in your situation.

In Canada
-Almost 6 million people have arthritis
-Sadly just over 24,000 children are also affected by this
-Woman seem to be more prone to arthritis with 60% of arthritis sufferers are a woman
-1 in 6 men and 1 in 4 women have arthritis.
-Almost half of the seniors suffer from arthritis
-Over half of people with arthritis are under 65 years old

(the original source of these statistics are from Status of Arthritis in Canada report (August 2019))

The devastating thing about arthritis is that it simply has no cure. Many people go through life suffering from arthritis pain and without any cure, they simply try to find relief from the symptoms. Dealing with arthritis can affect your quality of life aside from pain. It can cause depression, anxiety, mood disorders, mental health issues, difficulty falling and staying asleep.

I won't bore you with the details of going in-depth on what arthritis is but it's worth mentioning there are over 100 different types of arthritis. Arthritis itself is inflammation of the joints which can affect one joint or multiple. The two most common types of arthritis are Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid arthritis.

Osteoarthritis
This is the most common type of arthritis where you see cartilage breaking down causing bones to rub together. Joint damage caused over the long term. The joint damage could also be from torn cartilage, dislocation or ligament injuries. Some of the most common symptoms of osteoarthrosis are of course inflammation, pain, feeling stiff and tenderness.

Rheumatoid arthritis:
Rheumatoid, on the other hand, is autoimmune arthritis and one of the most common. The cause is because of the immune system not functioning correctly which causes pain and swelling in the wrist area, hands and feet, and small joints. Rheumatoid is caused when your body sends inflammation to certain parts of your body to attack foreigners such as viruses and bacterial. In the case of this autoimmune, your body goes out of control and mistakes your own system and sends inflammation to healthy tissue. The inflammation is sent to your body causing joint pain and swelling.

Now that we got the intro to arthritis out of the way this is probably the part your most interested in reading, am I wrong? Maybe a friend or family member told you about CBD. Maybe your doctor mentioned it. Maybe you just came across it on your own for the first time on this page. However, you heard about it please understand that CBD is not THC.  CBD and THC are both phytocannabinoids created by the cannabis plant (hemp or marijuana). THC has long been used to help with a variety of ailments which has been well documented. CBD, on the other hand, resembles THC at a molecular level very closely, without the intoxicating effect.

CBD has not been studied to the same degree as THC has in the last half-decade and it's only really in the last 10 years made it's way to more and more studies and proven to be as good as THC if not better for specific ailments. Truth be told CBD and THC are only 2 of over 100 Phytocannabinoids found in the cannabis plant. 

In 1992 Dr. Lumir Hanus at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem discovered what we call today the endocannabinoid system. The endocannabinoid system is a very complex cell-signaling system in your body that exists and is active even if you do not use cannabis. There are many purposes of the endocannabinoid system and it's responsible for regulating and balancing many processes in your body which include immune response, appetite, metabolism, memory, communication between cells.

The interesting thing about the endocannabinoid system is the complex system of receptors found all over our body identified as CB1 and CB2 receptors. When you introduce phytocannabinoids like CBD or THC it stimulates and triggers these receptors which can help with things such as inflammation, anxiety, pain, etc. This is the very very basic version of it all.

People who suffer from chronic anxiety can also develop other symptoms such as anxiety, depression and lack of sleep which can further complicate things and lead to a poorer quality of life.

-A 2011 study performed on rats found that CBD helped reduced inflammatory pain by affecting the way the pain receptors responded to dose CBD.

-A 2017 study found CBD is useful for using on people suffering from joint pain contributed from osteoarthritis.

-A 2014 review of the existing research on animals concluded that CBD could be a great effective treatment for osteoarthritis

-A 2016 study found that topicals such as balms and lotions had the potential to relieve inflammation and also pain associated with all types of arthritis

-A 2018 review into CBD delivery system for pain and inflammation treatment

-An article from the Arthritis Foundation regarding CBD which talks about CBD use for arthritis

-An article from Medical News talking about the use of CBD for arthritis pain management

If you are at the point you want to now try CBD for your arthritis and need a starting point in regards to product selection, let's talk about that. There are a couple of great options to choose from when you begin your journey with CBD. You have both the option of systemic treatment such as a CBD oil tincture (oral drops) or a localized approach such as a balm or a lotion.

A tincture is just the description of dosing your CBD. A tincture will have the raw CBD extract and a carrier liquid in the bottle such as MCT oil, coconut oil or hemp seed oil. All the CBD tinctures we carry here at ChilliwackCBD contain MCT oil which stands for medium-chain-triglycerides. CBD and other cannabinoids are fat-soluble and more effective when taken with saturated fat such as MCT oil. This allows the body to absorb more CBD into your bloodstream and begin acting faster.

If you have arthritis in much of your body or many different areas then a systemic approach might be best(treating it as a whole). This does not mean you should not also try a lotion or balm as well because the combination of the two might work even better.

Will CBD give an intoxicating effect?
CBD does not give an intoxicating effect or a high. THC is the cannabinoid that you are probably familiar with, this would give you an intoxicating effect in higher dosages. All of the tinctures we offer here at ChilliwackCBD do not contain more than .03% THC which is FAR below what you would need to induce any intoxicating effects.

How do I use the tincture?
The tincture bottle has a glass dropper. you will fill the dropper up with the amount of liquid you need and then you would place the liquid under your tongue. Leave the liquid under your tongue for 60 seconds so it can absorb into the blood vessels in your mouth and then simply swallow. You can add the liquid into food products or drinks but it's less effective because your body has to digest it leading the poorer absorption over the oral route.

How Much CBD liquid do I use?
Another great question for anyone starting out. The goal is to use as little as needed to relieve whichever symptoms you are trying to find relief from. We suggest starting with a few drops to test sensitivity and then from that point slowly increase the drops over day/weeks. Once you find a dosage that works for you, you stay at that dosage. It really comes down to trial and error at the beginning. CBD effects usually last 4-6 hours so dosing multiple times a day may be an option for some people.

Can I use too much?
Not really. You cannot overdose on CBD but because it's expensive enough, to begin with, the goal is to use as little as possible to allow you to get as much use out of the product for as long as you can.

Which MG strength do I start with?
This is another question we get asked a lot. Our tinctures range from 300mg all the way up to 2000mg. The higher the MG, typically the better value you get in the long run. I usually suggest to people to start with 1000mg. This bottle should last you at least a month or two when starting out to figure out what dosage works best for you.

Which tincture should I start with?
We have many options but the specific tinctures we sell the most of here is either the 1000MG CBDFX or the Coast 1000MG. Both are good options.


Using Balms and Lotions

Balms and lotions are a great way to apply CBD products topically. Even if you had a balm or lotion with a high THC concentration the THC cannot pass the brain/blood barrier so there is never a concern for intoxication. A high THC concentration might be even more beneficial than a CBD due to its anti-pain properties in certain situations.

Because a balm & lotion is combined with CBD this serves are a great product to use if you have localized pain in a certain spot (writs, hands, knees, shoulder). The combination of a local approach such as balm or lotion might work even better with the systemic approach (tincture or capsules). 

I hope this article served you well and in our other CBD ARTICLES we talk about many other aspects of CBD if you're interested in reading more. Please let us know if we can help you with your CBD journey.

We ship our CBD products Canada Wide from British Columbia.