A clinical study conducted in Poland and published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine reported that transdermal, or skin-applied, CBD helped relieve muscle pain around the jaw.
The study involved 60 patients with temporomandibular joint syndrome (TMJ), a condition involving pain in the jaw joint and surrounding muscles, along with difficulty moving the jaw. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups. The first received transdermal CBD in a cream; the second received a placebo. Participants were instructed to apply their assigned treatment twice daily for two weeks.
To assess the results, the researchers measured masseter muscle activity and pain intensity. Activity in the CBD group fell by 11% in the right masseter and 12.6% in the left, compared with reductions of 0.23% and 3.3%, respectively, in the placebo group.
Pain intensity decreased by 70.2% in the CBD group and 9.81% in the placebo group. The researchers said further investigation was needed, while suggesting that CBD warranted consideration in research on masticatory muscle treatment and patients with TMJ disorders.
