CBD Patches For Pain – Do They Really Work?

Are you considering using CBD patches for pain relief? This is something that many people have tried before, and many people swear by them. However, the real question is whether CBD Patches could help with your pain. In this article, we look at the evidence suggesting that CBD patches could help, and work out if they should be considered seriously.

What are CBD Patches?

CBD patches are a relatively new way to take cannabidiol, better known as CBD, using transdermal patches, often used for people trying to give up smoking in combination with nicotine. However, CBD patches do not contain nicotine and contain usually only CBD along with some other cannabinoids.

What Are Cannabinoids and What Is Cannabidiol?

As mentioned above, cannabidiol is more commonly known as CBD, which is probably a term you’ve come across before. However, a name is just a name, and we need more than that to understand its applications.

CBD is one of many cannabinoids, a group of compounds known to interact with the body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS). The ECS is a “vast network of chemical signals and cellular receptors that are densely packed throughout our brains and bodies,”

The ECS is known to be responsible for the regulation of many processes in the body, including “learning and memory, emotional processing, sleep, temperature control, pain control, inflammatory and immune responses, and eating.” Believe it or not, we naturally produce cannabinoids in our own bodies to interact with the ECS.

CBD is a phytocannabinoid, which means it is a cannabinoid produced outside of the body in plants, specifically the cannabis family of plants. Just like the cannabinoids we produce ourselves, it also interacts with the ECS affecting some of our body’s processes. Pertinently for this article, it is thought to affect the pain response as this is one of the processes the ECS impacts.

What Is a Transdermal Patch?

As the name suggests, a transdermal patch works by applying a substance through the skin and into the bloodstream. They typically feature one side that does not allow liquid to pass through which remains dry and faces out from the skin. The other side contains the substance held in a reservoir along with an adhesive to keep the patch in place.

One of the main benefits of transdermal patches is that they apply the substance over a long period of time, often over 24 hours. It is important to ensure the patch is placed on a part of the skin that will not crease so as to ensure that it works effectively over the full course of the absorption period.

How Does CBD Work with a Transdermal Patch?

As with nicotine patches and other transdermal patch applications, CBD patches work in much the same way. They are applied somewhere on the skin where the patch will not crease, and CBD is released over a period of time. One of the main benefits is that you can have a steady stream of CBD absorbed into your body overnight without having to wake up and reapply.

In order for the patches to work, the CBD needs to be in a different form from normal CBD oils. This is because, as with any oil, CBD oil doesn’t mix well with water. Therefore, the CBD used in transdermal patches needs to be water-soluble so that it can be absorbed through the skin and into the bloodstream.

Do CBD Patches Help With Pain?

This is a contentious question, but evidence suggests that CBD and other cannabinoids do affect the pain response governed by the Endocannabinoid System. One study took an in-depth look at the reported effects of CBD in both clinical and preclinical settings. The results were encouraging.

Several studies reported a reduction in inflammation and hyperalgesia — Hyperalgesia is a heightened sensitivity to pain. Several other studies cited patients reporting a reduction in chronic pain and improvements to their quality of life and quality of sleep.

It is worth remembering that many people have issues with sleep due to pain. Pain can be very disruptive to a good night’s sleep and it goes without saying that it can cause you to wake in the middle of the night. Therefore, it’s likely that a reduction in chronic pain, especially while asleep, will have a positive effect on sleep quality.

But What About CBD Patches Specifically?

Unfortunately, there are very few studies on CBD and other cannabinoids in relation to pain, and even fewer on CBD Patches in particular. However, it is widely accepted that transdermal patches are an effective way to absorb substances into the body, and CBD patches should be no different.

Also, as we have explored in the previous section, CBD has been reported on several separate occasions to be effective in reducing some users’ pain. This has also been extended to other associated issues such as sleep and quality of life.

Furthermore, the benefit of being able to absorb CBD consistently over the course of a longer time frame means that transdermal CBD patches should be better at tackling chronic pain. This is especially true when comparing these patches with other CBD product types, including CBD oils taken sublingually (under the tongue) and CBD vape products.

Benefits of CBD Patches

As we have covered before, CBD patches have a major benefit when compared with CBD creams, vapes, oils and other methods of CBD application. That benefit is that the CBD, and other cannabinoids if present, is applied over a period of time. This is especially beneficial for those wanting to apply CBD patches throughout the night when aches and pains are more noticeable and getting a good night’s sleep is a priority.

However, there is another major benefit besides the long-acting nature of CBD patches — the bioavailability of patches.

What is Bioavailability?

Bioavailability is a term used to describe how efficient a substance is at being absorbed into the body. It is the proportion of the substance — in this case, CBD and other cannabinoids — that is introduced effectively into the body.

For many oral medicines, including orally taken CBD, the bioavailability of substances taken this way is typically quite low. CBD in particular is thought to have particularly low bioavailability due to it not being water soluble in its most common form. However, CBD patches overcome these issues leading to much higher rates of bioavailability.

This is because it avoids what pharmacists call the first pass effect phenomenon. When taken orally (via the mouth), the body’s metabolism processes the CBD resulting in it becoming less concentrated. With CBD patches, it avoids this natural process meaning a higher concentration of CBD enters the bloodstream and interacts with the endocannabinoid system. This results in, you guessed it, higher bioavailability.

CBD Patches and Pain: What’s The Verdict?

UK CBD patches are a novel way of taking CBD and stand apart from the typical methods of CBD oral drops and CBD e-liquid and vapes. However, CBD patches have some very specific benefits when compared to these other products. This is especially true in the case of using CBD patches to treat pain.

CBD patches are capable of delivering higher concentrations of CBD to the bloodstream due to increased bioavailability. This is due to the fact that CBD has to be water-soluble in order to pass through the skin. In addition, the transdermal patches avoid diluting CBD on its way to the bloodstream due to the first-pass effect.

CBD patches are also a slow-release method of using CBD, meaning that the pain-relieving effects are applied steadily over a longer period of time. This slow release also means that CBD can be delivered overnight, helping people enjoy a more pain-free night of rest.

Overall, CBD patches are certainly worth trying out if you struggle with chronic pain and are looking for a way to reduce this pain overnight with only a simple patch applied painlessly to the skin.