I’ve written to you before about how a cutting-edge therapy I offer at the Sears Institute for Anti-Aging Medicine is helping NFL players like Joe Namath recover from the traumatic brain injuries.

But I recently read about a player who is using another kind of breakthrough therapy to help him recover from the chronic pain caused by his 15-year football career.

Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon led his team to a Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots in 1986. But multiple tackles and blows to the head during his games eventually led to debilitating health problems.

Since his retirement, McMahon has been diagnosed with early onset dementia as well as severe headaches, depression, memory loss, and vision and speech problems.

He also suffered a broken neck.

The former NFL star says the pain got so bad “it felt like someone was sticking ice picks in my head.” He wanted the pain to end so badly, at one point, he considered suicide.

By 2009, McMahon was taking 100 Percocet pills a month.

In 2010, he started using an all-natural painkiller to ease his agony. Not only does it relieve his pain without any side effects, it allowed him to ditch his addictive opioid habit.

The miracle therapy McMahon began using is hemp. And for some people, it’s a miracle cure.

Hemp oil is leading the biggest pain-relief revolution we’ve seen since a Bayer aspirin was invented in the 1890s. Millions of pain sufferers are turning to this all-natural therapy to treat their pain instead of dangerous and addictive opioids.

In fact, two new studies have found that in every state that has legalized cannabis, opioid

use has dropped dramatically. Both studies were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In the first five-year study, researchers reported that prescription opioid use fell a stunning 6.38%. In the second study, researchers found that the daily doses of any opioid dispensed per year dropped by nearly 4 million when patients had access to cannabis.¹

And according to new research published in the European Journal of Internal Medicine, 20% of hemp oil users quit taking opiates.² In this breakthrough study, 2,700 elderly patients treated their cancer pain with hemp oil.

After six months, almost everyone in the study reported successful results. Their chronic pain was cut in half — with no side effects. Nearly everyone reduced their painkiller use and many quit using opiates entirely.

And unlike opioid pain medications, hemp oil has not been found to be addictive. In fact, some research has found that hemp oil can actually help decrease the addictive use of opioids like morphine by blocking the reward pathways that lead to addiction.³

I became interested in sports medicine even before I started medical school. Throughout college, I worked with athletes and today I’m a member of the American College of Sports Medicine. I’m also an ACE-certified fitness trainer. So, I get it when one of my patients tells me about after an injury they go playing sports.

But in the same way cannabis worked for Jim McMahon and other athletes, it’s providing relief for my patients at the Sears Institute for Anti-Aging Medicine. I live in Florida, the retirement capital of the world. And a lot of people are here because they want to play golf and tennis all year round.

So it was a big deal earlier this year when the World Anti-Doping Agency removed hemp oil from its list of banned substances. Although hemp oil is legal in all 50 states, this news made them feel even better about adding it to their pain-relieving protocol.

Hemp Oil — 4 Ways to Get the Healing Benefits

1. Choose the way you want to take it. There are several ways to take hemp oil. Before choosing a method, check with your doctor to help you chose the best one. Some of the methods include pure concentrates, tinctures, vaporizing, supplement and topical treatments.
2. Make sure your hemp oil hasn’t been “watered down.” A lot of supplement companies try to eke out as much profit as they can by diluting their products with fillers. Pay attention to the concentration level of the oil you’re buying.
3. Read the ingredient list. Look for products with high-quality ingredients. Avoid corn syrup, GMOs, pesticides, trans fats or artificial additives.
4. Look for a product that’s been lab tested. Find an oil that has been tested for consistency, and verified as free of mold, bacteria, pesticides, solvent residues and other contaminants.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD, CNS

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References

1. Wen H and Hockenberry JM. “Association of medical and adult-use marijuana laws with opioid prescribing for Medicaid enrollees.” JAMA Intern Med. 2018;178(5):673-679.
2. Abuhasira R, et al. “Epidemiological characteristics, safety and efficacy of medical cannabis in the elderly.” Eur J Intern Med. 2018;49:44-50.
3. Markos JR, et al. “Effects of cannabidiol on morphine conditioned place preference in mice.” Planta Med. 2018;84(4):221-224.

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