Does cannabidiol (CBD) help prevent or heal a tendinopathy?

Question

I read on http://mmajunkie.com/2016/08/with-vape-pen-in-hand-ufc-202s-nate-diaz-explains-the-benefits-of-cannabidiol-oil

“It’s CBD [cannabidiol],” Diaz said. “It helps with the healing process and inflammation and things like that, so you want to get these for before or after the fights, in training. It’ll make your life a better place.”

I found a research paper (1) regarding the use of cannabidiol (a nonpsychoactive cannabis constituent with no documented side effect) for collagen-induced arthritis (CIA):

Taken together, these data show that CBD [cannabidiol], through its combined immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory actions, has a potent anti-arthritic effect in CIA [collagen-induced arthritis].

but it is quite old (2000), and doesn't address tendinopathies.

Does cannabidiol (CBD) help prevent or heal a tendinopathy? If so, what's the best modality (e.g., injections, patches, smoking)?

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• (1) Malfait, Anne-Marie, R. Gallily, P. F. Sumariwalla, A. S. Malik, E. Andreakos, R. Mechoulam, and M. Feldmann. "The nonpsychoactive cannabis constituent cannabidiol is an oral anti-arthritic therapeutic in murine collagen-induced arthritis." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 97, no. 17 (2000): 9561-9566. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=505227943814940929&hl=en&as_sdt=0,22 ; http://www.pnas.org/content/97/17/9561.full ; http://sci-hub.cc/10.1073/pnas.160105897

Answer 1

A quick look through the medical literature leads me to the conclusion that there is no evidence that CBD promotes healing of tendinopathy.

The anti-arthritic effect in your referenced paper is based on an immune-mediated inflammatory response which is different to the mechanism of inflammation in traumatic tendinopathy.

This paper deals with a mechanical trauma and suggests that injury-related MRI signal and histological changes are reduced with injection of CBD in a mouse model. This was the most relevant paper I could find on your particular question.

In summary our study revealed anti-degenerative effects of intradiscal microinjection of CBD 120 nmol. CBD represents one of the most promising candidates present in the Cannabis sativa plant for clinical use due to its remarkable lack of cognitive or psychotomimetic actions. It has been already approved in several countries for the treatment of neuropathic pain. Although further research is necessary to clarify the mechanisms involved in CBD effects, the present results suggest the possibility of its use for disc degeneration treatment.

^{Source: Silveira, J. W., Issy, A. C., Castania, V. A. et al. (2014). Protective Effects of Cannabidiol on Lesion-Induced Intervertebral Disc Degeneration. PLoS ONE, 9(12).}

In short: there is no good evidence for wound healing and CBD in humans currently. In vivo and mouse models show an anti-inflammatory effect, but this is not the same as "promoting healing".