Barcelona, Spain: Women with fibromyalgia (FM) experience “meaningful reductions” in localized pain following the topical administration of CBD, according to findings published in the Journal of Cannabis Research.
Spanish investigators assessed the efficacy of a commercially available topical CBD product in treating FM-related localized pain in a cohort of 30 female patients. Study participants applied the topical agent to the same area every eight hours for 12 weeks.
The sustained self-application of CBD was associated with significant reductions in patients’ localized pain at four weeks. These reductions were maintained throughout the study. CBD application was also associated with improvements in patients’ functional capacity and decreases in their overall symptom severity scores. No adverse events or side effects were reported.
“These findings support future randomized controlled trials and suggest that this approach may be a feasible adjunctive option for patients with prominent localized pain who prefer to avoid systemic medications,” the study’s authors concluded.
Prior studies assessing the efficacy of topical CBD treatment report that it mitigates arthritic and osteoarthritic pain, and that it stimulates wound healing.
Long-term observational studies find that the use of cannabis preparations provides sustained quality of life benefits in FM patients.
Full text of the study, “CBD-containing topical formulation for localized pain in fibromyalgia: A 12-week pilot feasibility study,” appears in the Journal of Cannabis Research. Additional information on cannabis and FM is available from NORML’s publication, Clinical Applications for Cannabis and Cannabinoids.