More than 1 in 5 patients who go to orthopedic surgeons with chronic musculoskeletal pain are using or have used some form of cannabis to manage their pain, according to a new study published this month. Of those, almost two thirds said they felt cannabis was very or somewhat effective, while more than 9 in 10 said it was at least slightly effective.
“More than half (57%) claimed cannabis to be more effective than other analgesic medications, and 40% reported decreasing their use of other analgesic medications since starting cannabis use,” the research found. Notably, among those who said they used cannabis to manage pain, the most commonly used cannabinoid was CBD (39%), followed by a hybrid of multiple cannabinoids (20%).
Further, among patients who were not cannabis users, roughly two thirds (65%) said they were interested in using marijuana to manage their pain but reported barriers to use such as “lack of knowledge regarding access, use and evidence, and stigma,” although stigma was, contrary to previous research, not a primary concern. Of the patients who said they had ever used cannabis to manage their MSK pain, 72% said it was part of their current treatment. The most frequent modes of use, meanwhile, were ingestion of oils (57%), smoking (36%) then vaporizing (32%).
