CBD oil accelerates muscle recovery after strenuous exercise

Dozens of blogs on the web talk about the benefits of CBD oil supplementation for athletes. CBD [in full: cannabidiol] is said to speed up recovery from heavy workouts. According to a German human study, conducted with strength athletes as test subjects, this may well be true.

Study

Eduard Isenmann, a molecular scientist from the German Sports University, had 16 experienced and young strength athletes perform 3 sets of squats and 3 sets of counter-jumps to failure on various occasions.

24, 48 and 72 hours after the session, he determined the maximum force that the athletes could develop during the squat, and determined the concentration of myoglobin and creatine kinase in the blood of the test subjects. Myoglobin and creatine kinase are classic markers of muscle damage. The higher their concentration, the greater the muscle damage.

On one occasion, the strength athletes immediately took 60 milligrams of cannabidiol during their squat session, on the other a placebo. The cannabidiol – Isenmann uses the term CBD solubilisat – was dissolved in 250 milligrams of water.

Results
The concentration of the muscle damage markers was increased in the days after the workout. On the third day, however, the concentration of myoglobin and creatine kinase was slightly lower if the athletes had used CBD.

A legend for the figures below can be found here.

The same was the case with the maximum squat force that the exercisers could develop after the workout. It was reduced for a few days after the workout. However, 72 hours after training, maximum power was slightly greater if the athletes had used CBD.

Conclusion
The effects Isenmann found are “small but significant”.

“If CBD is supposed to take stronger effects on recovery processes following intense strength training, continuous and repetitive supplementation will probably be required,” Isenmann writes.

Moreover, we add, the effects may be greater in older age groups than the young males used who participated in the German study.

Source:
Nutrients. 2021 Aug 30;13(9):3028.