Marijuana relieves Muscle Pain

Where numerous other treatments have failed to safely relieve stiffness in patients with multiple sclerosis, cannabis extract proved twice as effective as a placebo. It also helped with pain, spasms, and sleep.

Problem:Muscle stiffness, often painful, affects up to 90 percent of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), yet no reliable treatment has been found. Drugs that have undergone clinical trials have been proven to be either ineffective or, in the case of baclofen, to further weaken those with the disease. This phase-III trial considers the clinical effectiveness of cannabis, already turned to as an alternative treatment by patients.

Methodology:At different sites across the UK, adult MS patients were randomly assigned to 12 weeks of treatment: 144 received cannabis extract in the form of a pill, while 135 others were treated with a placebo. A rating scale was used to evaluate improvements in muscle stiffness, its associated pain, muscle spasms, and sleep quality.

Results:Just fewer than 30 percent of subjects treated with cannabis extract experienced relief from muscle stiffness, making their success rate almost double that of the placebo group. Pain, spasms, and sleep quality were also improved in the treatment group to about the same extent. At the end of the twelve weeks only one in four patients were taking the maximum daily dose of 25 mg of cannabis. None of the side effects experienced by those in the treatment group were particularly severe. Most occurred during the first two weeks of the trial (when they were allowed to increase their dosage) and were therefore probably attributable to the rapid dose escalation.

Conclusion:Cannabis extract was confirmed as a viable treatment option, and an effective form of pain relief, for those experiencing muscle problems associated with MS.

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New Finds-Marijuana Relieves-Muscle Stiffness

The oral administration of cannabis extracts significantly reduces muscle stiffness in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to just published clinical trial data published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

Investigators at the University of Plymouth, Clinical Neurology Research Group, in the United Kingdom assessed the use of cannabinoids versus placebo in 279 subjects with MS over a twelve-week period. Cannabis extracts in the study contained standardized doses of THC and cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive constituent in cannabis, contained in a soft, gelatin capsule.

Investigators reported that oral cannabis extracts were superior over placebo in the treatment of MS-associated muscle stiffness and pain.

Authors concluded: Treatment with standardized oral extract of cannabis sativa relieved muscle stiffness. The proportion of participants experiencing relief was almost twice as large in the cannabis extract group as in the placebo group. Effective pain relief is also achieved by cannabis extracts, especially in patients with a high baseline pain score. Our findings suggest that standardized cannabis extracts can be clinically useful in treating the highly complex phenomenon of spasticity in MS.

In May, clinical trial data published in the Journal of the Canadian Medical Association reported that cannabis inhalation significantly mitigates spasticity and pain in patients with treatment-resistant multiple sclerosis.

Separate clinical trials assessing the administration of oral cannabis extracts on patients with MS have indicated that cannabinoids can alleviate symptoms of the disease long-term and may also act in ways to mitigate MS progression. Sativex, an oral spray containing plant cannabis extracts, is presently legal by prescription to treat MS-related symptoms in over a dozen countries, including Canada, Germany, Great Britain, New Zealand, and Spain. Nonetheless, the National MS Society of the United States shares little enthusiasm for cannabis as a potential treatment for multiple sclerosis, stating, Studies completed thus far have not provided convincing evidence that marijuana or its derivatives provide substantiated benefits for symptoms of MS.

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