Why Topical CBD Is An Option For Joint Pains, Inflammation And Arthritis

Rather than ingesting CBD hemp oil orally, which will affect the whole body and can take up to 2 hours or more to fully experience the effects, the topical application of cannabinoids allows them to be absorbed directly into the affected area for faster and more focused onset of effects.
This minimally invasive method for CBD use often serves as a first point of contact between curious consumers and the hemp oil industry. Reluctant to ingest CBD oil, new users may be more willing to try external applications for their first time before moving on to oral CBD supplements.  CBD is more permeable to the skin than THC, interacting with CB2 receptors near the skin, activating the endocannabinoid system within 2-5 minutes for 8+ hours of relief.
A word of caution; like all full spectrum CBD hemp oil products, CBD oil topicals are non-psychoactive, but do enter the bloodstream and may cause a false-positive drug test due to the trace level of THC which is federally legal under .03%.  

There is extensive research on the overall benefits that CBD provides in humans, but most of the studies on topical applications that we were able to find used animals.

A University of Kentucky research team in July 2016 published the results from their successful CBD study in the European Journal of Pain regarding relieving arthritis symptoms found in rats. Arthritis was artificially induced in the knee joints of rats by scientists, and then it was studied whether or not their pain was reduced and mobility improved by CBD.
The researchers noted that joint swelling was significantly reduced by transdermal CBD gel, and noted other pain indicators, including how the affected joints were positioned by the rats appeared to be improved as well.
The researchers added that the CBD did not alter exploratory behavior which indicated that higher brain function had only a limited effect, and there was additional evidence that few side effects were associated with CBD.
The scientists concluded that according to the data topical CBD application appears to have therapeutic potential for relieving arthritis pain-related inflammation and behaviors without any noticeable side effects.
Although maybe not as applicable to daily applications, it has been suggested by other animal studies that CBD might reduce numerous different types of inflammation. Another thing that is worth noting is there are two patents at least already on specific topical CBD formulations.

When cannabinoids are topically applied, it enables them to be directly absorbed into the affected area for more focused and faster relief.

Beyond just the basic chronic pain problems, it has also be shown that the topical use of the combination of CBD and THC have been reported as being effect against multiple sclerosis’ central pain. It might help with skin conditions as well, including skin infections, psoriasis, eczema, rashes, and burns.

Dr. Ranga Krishna, a Brooklyn-based neurologist, said he both holds a patent and prescribed topical CBD due to its amazing promise.  He said that topicals are a great option since it is easy to measure them when it comes to ingredient compositions, and they have higher bioavailability compared to orally ingested compounds due to having the ability to skip liver metabolization.

Since everyone is different, topical CBD does not work for everybody.
One user reports that he tried it for a stubborn chronic pain issue and that it did help some but wasn’t enough for his level of pain or the spot.
He said they had gone back to other ingesting CBD methods that appear to help more. Although topical creams did not help with chronic pain, another, an unexpected benefit was discovered. It worked great on menstrual cramps.
Other people on Reddit were very enthusiastic about topical CBD benefits. One person suffering from postherpetic neuralgia, which is a lingering type of chronic pain that might be caused by shingles, wrote that CBD was the only thing that helped.
There are severeal Studies done on CBD and Skin Care from the NCBI below:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070816094649.htm
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• Cannabinoids inhibit human keratinocyte proliferation through a non-CB1/CB2 mechanism and have a potential therapeutic value in the treatment of psoriasis  
• CBD exerts sebostatic and antiinflammatory effects on human sebocytes 
• The endocannabinoid system of the skin in health and disease 
• Epigenetic control of skin differentiation genes by phytocannabinoids  
• A novel control of human keratin expression: cannabinoid receptor 1-mediated signaling down-regulates the expression of keratins K6 and K16 in human keratinocytes in vitro and in situ
• Endocannabinoids modulate human epidermal keratinocyte proliferation and survival via the sequential engagement of cannabinoid receptor-1 and transient receptor potential vanilloid-1
• Cannabinoid 1 receptors in keratinocytes modulate proinflammatory chemokine secretion and attenuate contact allergic inflammation  
• Attenuation of allergic contact dermatitis through the endocannabinoid system
• Topical cannabinoid agonists. An effective new possibility for treating chronic pruritus  
• Cannabidiol upregulates melanogenesis through CB1 dependent pathway by activating p38 MAPK and p42/44 MAPK

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