Use CBD To Tackle Long Distance Hiker Aches and Pains
I have had friends that were Cannabis activists since the 1980’s, so National CBD Month is nothing new to me. I can remember how excited they were when The Emperor Wears No Clothes by Jack Herer was published circa 1985. I was never in the inner circle of pot activists in the Quad Cities, but I was there just outside that circle, and I casually knew the different personalities in the group.
I spoke at a hempfest in the Quad Cities in 1991. My speech was short but sweet, I can’t remember my words, but I do well remember the feeling of being on that stage, with a collection of large multicolored tie-dye sheets waving in the background.
Blissy (wife #2 for those with scorecards) was actually responsible for the tie-dyed sheets, she created them and we used them as wall hangings to add color and personality to our home. They really dressed up the stage nicely for that particular hempfest.
Needless to say, I’ve been aware of the benefits of CBD since the 1980’s, although at first I remembered it as the compound molecule in pot that didn’t get you high. It was my understanding that hemp (not pot) was high in cbd, but that THC (not CBD) was what made cannabis get you high. Some of that may be true…
My Back Injury – National CBD Month
I have suffered from constant intractable back pain since the 1990’s. I believe the original injury happened unloading a semi-trailer full of food for a restaurant. I was a cook, but another employee and I also unloaded the semi that came once a week to deliver our food.
The restaurant was a buffet, and we served a lot of people, sometimes as many as 1000 in three hours on a Sunday morning, for instance. I think we were closer to 1500 on Mother’s Day, but we opened early on that day, and got to count people coming in to pick up whole pies.
I think we got an average of 15-20 tons, and sometimes as much as 30 tons, of food per week. Unloading the truck, rotating stock, and putting everything away, meant I lifted everything coming in at least twice, and that didn’t count the old stock I had to lift and rotate too.
Flour, in fifty pound bags, gets heavy after a while. When you have a 30-50 count of fifty-pound bags coming in, and are moving them all two or three times each, the enemy’s are fatigue and boredom. Oh ya, and showing up for work hungover. That was never a good idea on the days when we unloaded the truck…
Fighting Pain – National CBD Month
Years of working on my feet on concrete and tile floors did nothing for my back. Unloading trucks full of food didn’t help. Backpacking probably didn’t help. I was used to tossing around fifty-pound sacks of flour, my backpacks those years probably averaged something around fifty-pounds too. I know it was 57 pounds on our restaurant produce scale before I went on a week long backpacking trip at the Grand Canyon.
I take anti-inflammatories, I already use opiates for pain on a daily basis. What the hell business do I have hiking anywhere?
That’s an attitude that was once mine, and that attitude will always fail. So, I’m working towards goals, I want to be ready for our cruise…
I’d like to be regularly walking a mile and a half a day by the time that cruise gets here. By next fall I’ve got my eyes on a trail I’d like to slackpack1. I’d like to be doing more still by the following spring. Who can say what I can accomplish, the only “fail” is if I fail to try!
And, I think CBD can help!
- To hike on a multi-day trail without carrying a backpack. Typically, this is accomplished by having another person transport the backpack using a vehicle. ↩︎
