Can You Get a California Medical Marijuana Card for a Lower Back Injury?
Lower back injury is the leading cause of work absence and activity limitations.
As one of the most common reasons for missing work, back strain accounts for more than 264 million lost work hours in a single year. That translates to two workdays for each full-time worker in the US.
You need to know that lower back injuries can affect people of all ages. While most cases of back pain are mechanical, most people end up recovering. However, recurrence is common. For some people, the condition can become disabling and chronic.
There is some good news. The state of California has legalized and decriminalized marijuana. In fact, you can buy a few ounces for recreational and medicinal use. To purchase, possess, or grow marijuana in California, you need a medical cannabis card. Want to know how to obtain a California medical marijuana card?
This post will discuss what back strain is, its symptoms, causes, and risk factors. We'll also discuss how to get your medical marijuana card.
Does Lower Back Injury Qualify You for Medical Marijuana in California?
California is one of the 33 states, including Washington D.C, that legalized and decriminalized marijuana. Thanks to the passing of Prop 215 and Senate Bill 420, California has set up dispensaries to enable patients to obtain medical marijuana. As such, you can walk into any licensed dispensary and buy up to 8 ounces of cannabis. You need to know that the medical cannabis card also protects from prosecution.
So, is back strain listed as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana treatment? Yes, lower back injury is one of the qualifying conditions for medical marijuana treatment.
What Is a Lower Back Injury?
A lower back injury, or back strain, is an injury to the lower back. In your back, there are a series of muscles holding the bones of your spinal column in place. They include extensors, flexors, and obliques. Since we subject our backs to different movements such as bending, twisting, and moving, one may cause tears or strain the ligaments.
For example, you can strain the ligaments by stretching them too far or overusing them. When you do so, the muscles weaken. As such, they may not be able to hold the bones of your spinal column correctly. This makes your spine less stable, causing pain. Besides pain, the damage to the ligaments and tendons causes muscles to spasm.
What Causes Lower Back Injury?
Most back strain injuries occur as a result of everyday activities. For example, injuries may arise while working or exercising at the gym or at home. These are the common causes of back strain.
Impact from Jarring Motions
A sudden impact to the back can cause immediate stress to your lower back muscles and ligaments. For example, if you're involved in a car accident, the crash can result in a sudden impact on your lower back. Besides a car accident, a fall while playing high-impact sports such as football can result in a lower back injury.
Poor Posture
Most people have sedentary desk jobs where they spend hours in front of a laptop or PC. While working, it is common to find such people slouching forward while using the PC or laptop. Besides slouching, they also adopt other poor posture practices. Poor posture adds strain to the lower back muscles and the spine.
Repeated Motions
Playing sports like baseball, golf, and rowing can cause strain to the lower back muscles. This is because you'll be making repetitive motions. Some of the motions may be forceful, causing the muscles to tear. With time, the condition may become chronic. If this happens, you'll experience intense pain.
Starting a New Activity
Starting a new activity such as exercising or playing high impact sports can cause lower back injury. The reason for this is that you'll be putting your back and spine to unfamiliar stress. This can lead to tears and inflammations, causing pain.
What Are the Symptoms of Lower Back Injury?
Common symptoms of back strain include:
- Sudden pain to your lower back ( may persist for 10 to 14 days)
- Muscle spasms
- Soreness to your lower back
- Stiffness
- Inability to maintain a normal posture
Most people take bed rest if diagnosed with a back strain. By lying on a bed, people believed they would get better. Well, studies show that bed treatment does not help. What helps is medical marijuana treatment.
Does Cannabis Work for Back Strain?
Several studies have been carried out with promising results. In 2016, researchers undertook a study to determine the effect of medicinal cannabis therapy on chronic low back pain. A total of 46 patients participated in the study that took 12 months to complete.
Each patient got evaluated before the start of the study, three months into the study, and after the study. During the 12 months, each patient took a fixed dosage of cannabis - 20 grams. Patients smoked cannabis at a rate of 4 doses a day.
Researchers concluded that smoking medicinal cannabis decreases pain in low back pain sufferers. It also improves the physical and mental functions of the user.
After the legalization of cannabis, researchers from McGill University delivered good news to chronic pain sufferers. This is after undertaking a study to find out the efficacy of cannabis on chronic pain. In the study, researchers used animal models for chronic pain.
What they discovered is that administering low doses of CBD alleviates chronic pain and anxiety too. The researchers focused their study on two strains - cannabis Indica and Sativa. These two strains produce THC and CBD used for pharmacological purposes.
By extrapolating CBD's exact dosage, they discovered that CBD can alleviate pain without the risk of euphoria or addiction.
How to Get a Medical Marijuana Card for a Back Sprain in California
Today, you can get your California medical marijuana card online, thanks to HappyMD. To obtain a genuine medical cannabis card, visit HappyMD.org.
Fill in the e-registration form and submit it. One of our doctors, experienced in cannabinoid medicine, will review your application. If your condition qualifies for medical marijuana treatment, the doctor will send a video-chat invite.
This marks the start of your evaluation. The doctor will ask you a couple of questions to find out about your condition and medical history. Make sure to provide past prescription information and medical records.
If everything checks out, you'll receive pdf copies of your medical marijuana card and recommendation. With these documents, you can visit a local dispensary in California and buy medical cannabis.
HappyMD offers reliable telemedicine services and evaluations for the medical marijuana card. Telehealth allows you to have an online video conversation or call with a state-approved and qualified physician using a tablet, computer, or smartphone. You can start the evaluation now by scheduling the online evaluation today!
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