Spastic Movement Disorders

Spastic movement disorders and cannabis

What makes the cannabis plant is its cannabinoids, which are essential compounds that interact with receptors in the central nervous system, resulting in significant biological effects and an improvement in disease symptoms in different types of movement disorders. Various scientific studies show how dyskinesia and spastic movement disorders gained a lot of traction after medicinal marijuana treatment.

Movement disorders can include dyskinesia, Parkinson’s disease, and spastic disorders. All of these conditions are very critical and can lead to oxidative stress and neurodegeneration. The traditional medications usually prescribed for these conditions are typically debilitating, symptomatic, produce severe side effects, and picky among patients. Nonetheless, the cannabis plant cannabidiol (CBD) primary compound has a lot of properties, which makes it anxiolytic, antipsychotic, neuroprotective, and anti-inflammatory to most users.

https://compcaremd.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Image-11-19-20-at-10.31-AM.jpg

What Are Spastic Movements?

Spasticity involves an increase in muscle contractions resulting in tightness or stiffness of the muscles, leading to impaired movement, walking, and speech. Spastic movement can damage a huge portion of our brain or the spinal cord area controlling voluntary movement.

It may result from conditions including spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, stroke, severe head injury, brain damage due to no oxygen, and metabolic diseases such as Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS).

Medical Marijuana for Spastic Movement Disorders

Over the last couple of years, marijuana has been a promising alternative in treating various movement disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, dyskinesia, and many related ailments. According to a 2004 survey that included 339 Parkinson’s disease patients, reports showed that smoking cannabis significantly improved Parkinson’s disease symptoms, including dyskinesia, rigidity, and bradykinesia.

After analyzing the relationship between marijuana and motor functions, it was concluded that medical marijuana could be a suitable option for treating various motor disorders.

Medical marijuana easily interacts with the endocannabinoid receptors responsible for motor function, pleasure, and mood.

With an excess of 113 cannabinoids, cannabis compounds can activate certain brain areas where dopamine treatment failed. Specifically, cannabis activates the CB1 receptors in considerable amounts in three major brain areas linked with Parkinson’s disease and dyskinesia. The name of these receptors is the basal ganglia, globus pallidus, and substantia nigra. This is essential because research shows cannabis consumption activates the CB1 receptors, resulting in neuroprotection and stops dyskinesia’s growth.

Medical marijuana is antioxidative.

The brain needs to be protected from damages. Since cannabis is antioxidative, it helps cleanse free radicals in the body of individuals suffering from dyskinetic and spastic movement disorders, hence reducing the damage caused by these free radicals on the brain.

Cannabis increases dopamine as well as controls other neurotransmitters. Most people consider movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease to be linked with dopamine deficiency. Cannabis also increases GABA, a chemical that helps decrease levodopa-induced dyskinesia in Parkinson’s patients.

Medical marijuana is additionally beneficial to other symptoms related to movement disorders.

Motor dysfunction is just one benefit provided by cannabinoids. Other benefits of cannabinoids include anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects. Cannabinoids also have neuroprotective effects that protects against further degeneration of precious neurons.