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Completed

NCT Number: NCT04586712

Efficacy of a Controlled Short-term Trial of Cannabidiol (CBD) Ingestion on Reducing Symptomatic Response and Facilitating Recovery After Induced Muscle Injury

We aim to determine the efficacy of a controlled short-term trial of CBD ingestion for reducing symptomatic response and facilitating recovery following induced muscle injury. We will assess, in serial fashion, symptomatic response, functional limitations and recovery of the quadriceps muscle following induced injury in which CBD oil (or placebo) will be delivered using a sublingual route of administration during a 15-day pre-injury consumption and post-injury recovery phase. A double-blind, randomized, two-arm study design will be used and participants will be randomly assigned to either an active dose (n=15) or vehicle control group (n=15). The clinical outcomes include measures of muscular pain and disability along with measures of pain-related fear and anxiety.

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Key information

Conditions

Muscle Injury Pain Relief Recovery

Age range

18 year–35 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Phase 2

Primary location

University of Florida

Gainesville, Florida, 32611, United States

About this study

Current research has shown evidence that phytocannabinoids may have a promising therapeutic potential in a variety of physical and psychological ailments, and cannabidiol (CBD) is of particular interest due to its positive safety profile, non-intoxicating effects and widespread capabilities in a number of musculoskeletal diseases. Three primary reasons people consume CBD on a global basis, in addition to the fact that it is non-intoxicating, are for symptomatic (pain) relief, anxiety reduction, and improved sleep quality. Very little is known about CBD and how it functions in the body from both an efficacy and mechanistic perspective, especially in humans. There is a large consumer base for this product that will be expanding exponentially in the next few years. Most of the evidence available is anecdotal from the personal testimony of consumers. We aim to determine the efficacy of a controlled short-term trial of CBD ingestion for reducing symptomatic response and facilitating recovery following induced muscle injury. We will assess, in serial fashion, symptomatic response, functional limitations and recovery of the quadriceps muscle following induced injury in which selected doses of CBD oil (or placebo) will be delivered using a sublingual route of administration during a 15-day pre-injury consumption and post-injury recovery phase. A double-blind, randomized, two-arm study design will be used and participants will be randomly assigned to either an active dose (n=15) or vehicle control group (n=15). Our clinical outcomes include measures of muscular pain and disability along with measures of pain-related fear and anxiety. Our laboratory-based study design is desirable and advantageous because it is a controlled method of tracking individuals using an experimental model of injury that is translatable to clinical populations. This exploratory study will provide preliminary data needed to support the hypotheses of a planned larger scale application.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

a) male and female adults between the ages of 18-35 years and b) English speaking, and c) both female and male subjects must be currently practicing acceptable methods of birth control, such as abstinence, and methods of contraception (barriers, oral, patch or other prophylactic methods).

Exclusion criteria

a) current use of cannabis products on a regular basis or positive urine test for cannabis, b) current use of tobacco or nicotine containing products on a regular basis, c) currently taking prescription medication for management of anxiety disorders, depression, or ADHD, d) current use of nutritional or dietary supplements on a daily basis (e.g. ephedra, yohimbine, pro-hormones, creatine or anabolics), e) current use of OTC anti-inflammatory medications (e.g. Advil, Aleve, Aspirin) on a regular basis, f) history of seizure disorder, family history of seizure disorder, current or history of head trauma, liver disease, renal (kidney) disease, cardiovascular disease (including, but not limited to: hypotension, hypertension, tachycardia, and syncope), g) current medical condition that would prevent the participant from performing strenuous resistance exercise, h) weight lifting for the lower extremities (legs) more than twice a week, i) currently experiencing pain in the hips, leg, or knee region, j) pregnancy, lactating or positive urine pregnancy test, k) known allergy to CBD or coconut/sesame oil, l) an allergy to tree nuts (coconut).

Treatment and study plan

Active CBD

Drug

Participants will be provided a viscous liquid in a bottle with a syringe dropper containing CBD-extract oil at concentrations of 2000mg/30mL (high).

Other names: 2000mg/30mL

Vehicle Control (Placebo)

Drug

Participants will be provided a viscous liquid in a bottle with a syringe dropper containing placebo containing no CBD oil (0mg/30 mL).

Primary outcomes

  1. Self-report Ratings of Muscle Soreness

    Time frame: Baseline (Day 1)

    A muscle soreness inventory will be used to self-report the level of soreness. The muscle soreness inventory consists of rating soreness on a visual analog scale (VAS). A 10cm line is drawn with 0 (no soreness) on the left pole and 10 (extreme soreness) on the right pole.

  2. Self-report Ratings of Muscle Soreness

    Time frame: Pre-exercise (Day 10)

    A muscle soreness inventory will be used to self-report the level of soreness. The muscle soreness inventory consists of rating soreness on a visual analog scale (VAS). A 10cm line is drawn with 0 (no soreness) on the left pole and 10 (extreme soreness) on the right pole.

  3. Self-report Ratings of Muscle Soreness

    Time frame: Post-exercise (Day 12)

    A muscle soreness inventory will be used to self-report the level of soreness. The muscle soreness inventory consists of rating soreness on a visual analog scale (VAS). A 100mm line is drawn with 0 (no soreness) on the left pole and 100 (extreme soreness) on the right pole.

  4. Self-report Ratings of Disability

    Time frame: Baseline (Day 1)

    Disability will be measured using the Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS). LEFS score = SUM (points for all 20 activities) Interpretation: Minimum score: 0 Maximum score: 80 The lower the score the greater the disability.

  5. Self-report Ratings of Disability

    Time frame: Pre-exercise (Day 10)

    Disability will be measured using the Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS). LEFS score = SUM (points for all 20 activities) Interpretation: Minimum score: 0 Maximum score: 80 The lower the score the greater the disability.

  6. Self-report Ratings of Disability

    Time frame: Post-exercise (Day 12)

    Disability will be measured using the Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS). LEFS score = SUM (points for all 20 activities) Interpretation: Minimum score: 0 Maximum score: 80 The lower the score the greater the disability.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Pain Anxiety Symptom Scale - 20 (PASS-20)

    Time frame: Pre-exercise (Day 10)

    20 item, 5-point rating scale that assesses 4 theoretically distinct components of pain-related anxiety including cognitive anxiety (items 1 to 5), fear of pain (items 6 to 10), escape/avoidance behavior (items 11 to 15), and physiological anxiety (items 16 to 20). Each subscale is worth 20 points. Subscales are combined to compute total score. The total scale ranges from 0 to 100; higher scores indicate worse outcome.

  2. Pain Anxiety Symptom Scale (PASS-20)

    Time frame: Post-exercise (Day 15)

    20 item, 5-point rating scale that assesses 4 theoretically distinct components of pain-related anxiety including cognitive anxiety (items 1 to 5), fear of pain (items 6 to 10), escape/avoidance behavior (items 11 to 15), and physiological anxiety (items 16 to 20). Each subscale is worth 20 points. Subscales are combined to compute total score. The total scale ranges from 0 to 100; higher scores indicate worse outcome.

  3. Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS)

    Time frame: Baseline (Day 1)

    13-item, 5-point rating scale used to assess different thoughts that may be associated with experiencing pain. The PCS total score is computed by summing responses to all 13 items.

    PCS total scores range from 0 - 52. The PCS subscales are computed by summing the responses to the following items: Rumination: Sum of items 8, 9, 10, 11; Magnification: Sum of items 6, 7, 13; and Helplessness: Sum of items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 12; higher scores indicate worse outcome.

  4. Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS)

    Time frame: Pre-exercise (Day 10)

    13-item, 5-point rating scale used to assess different thoughts that may be associated with experiencing pain. The PCS total score is computed by summing responses to all 13 items.

    PCS total scores range from 0 - 52. The PCS subscales are computed by summing the responses to the following items: Rumination: Sum of items 8, 9, 10, 11; Magnification: Sum of items 6, 7, 13; and Helplessness: Sum of items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 12; higher scores indicate worse outcome.

  5. Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS)

    Time frame: Post-exercise (Day 15)

    13-item, 5-point rating scale used to assess different thoughts that may be associated with experiencing pain. The PCS total score is computed by summing responses to all 13 items.

    PCS total scores range from 0 - 52. The PCS subscales are computed by summing the responses to the following items: Rumination: Sum of items 8, 9, 10, 11; Magnification: Sum of items 6, 7, 13; and Helplessness: Sum of items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 12; higher scores indicate worse outcome.

  6. Fear of Pain Questionnaire (FPQ-9)

    Time frame: Baseline (Day 1)

    9-item, 5-point rating scale to quantify fear of specific situations that normally produce pain. Each subscale contains 3 items, so the possible range of scores for each subscale is 3 through 15. Subscales are combined to compute total score. The Total score has a range of 9 through 45; higher scores indicate worse outcome.

  7. Fear of Pain Questionnaire (FPQ-9)

    Time frame: Pre-exercise (Day 10)

    9-item, 5-point rating scale to quantify fear of specific situations that normally produce pain. Each subscale contains 3 items, so the possible range of scores for each subscale is 3 through 15. Subscales are combined to compute total score. The Total score has a range of 9 through 45; higher scores indicate worse outcome.

  8. Maximal Voluntary Isometric Contraction (MVIC)

    Time frame: Pre-exercise (Day 10)

    maximum voluntary force produced during a static muscle contraction

  9. Maximal Voluntary Isometric Contraction (MVIC)

    Time frame: Post-exercise (Day 12)

    maximum voluntary force produced during a static muscle contraction measured in Newton-meters.

  10. Maximal Voluntary Isometric Contraction (MVIC)

    Time frame: Post-exercise (Day 15)

    maximum voluntary force produced during a static muscle contraction measured as Newton-meters.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Florida

Other

Collaborators

  • Consortium for Medical Marijuana Clinical Outcomes Research

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2021
Primary completion
2024
Study completion
2024
First posted
Oct 14, 2020
Registry last updated
Aug 6, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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