NFL, NFLPA seek alternatives to opioids for pain management

The NFL is taking steps to learn more about different ways to help players manage pain.

Last month, the NFL and NFL Players Association asked researchers with experience conducting controlled, experimental studies related to pain management to submit information that may be useful in treating players.

The joint pain management committee comprised of medical experts appointed by the league and the union wants to know about alternatives to opioids, including CBD (cannabidiol) and other cannabis-derivative products, that may help players recover from sports-specific and musculoskeletal injuries.

The committee’s mission is to “improve player health through evidence-based treatment of acute and chronic pain, and to facilitate research to better understand and improve potential alternative treatments.”

“We all recognize that appropriate treatment of pain is an important aspect of not only sports medicine but just medicine in general, so we are always looking at new methods and new techniques for treating pain that will be safer and more effective than opioids,” Dr. Allen Sills, the

NFL’s chief medical officer, told The Associated Press.

The committee conducted two informational forums on CBD in 2020 to learn about its science and manufacturing.

“There is a lot of marketing for these various products but you have to understand that any time we talk about something for NFL athletes, the burden of proof is incredibly high,” Sills said.