 Rugby is arguably one of the physically toughest sports on the body. It requires strength, power, and the ability to endure getting hit hard for up to 80 minutes a game. And they do it without helmets, and without pads.
Retired rugby players have been found to be between two to ten times more likely to suffer long term effects from injuries earned in the game, as compared to retirees from other sports. Austrailian Rugby legend Andrew Johns is widely considered to be one of the greatest players in rugby league history. But after more than 300 games, he also had his fair share of injuries. Among other things, he’s suffered a broken jaw, torn ACL, a serious neck injury, nerve damage, groin injuries, many concussions, and more. A few years back, he was also diagnosed with frontal lobe epilepsy which causes him debilitating seizures. Johns believes this may have been caused by the repeated knocks to his head during his playing career. He said that for almost thirty years he had to rely on sleeping pills and anti-inflammatory pills, but recently that’s all changed, thanks to cannabis. Johns said cannabis has been an absolute 'game-changer' for managing both his chronic pain and his epileptic seizures. He spoke to the Sydney Sunday Telegraph and said, “I have been taking medicinal cannabis for 18 months now, as well as the medication I'm taking... and am seizure-free. I can go to the park now and kick the footy. I can jog. I hadn't run for 10 years. It is so nice to run around and play with the kids.” He also added that since taking medicinal cannabis, he hasn’t felt the need to take a sleeping pill. An additional benefit he has noted is that he feels his concentration has gotten better with cananbis use. And his partner said he seems calmer. Another former player, and the current coach of the Richmond footy team, Damien Hardwick, told Daily Mail Australia earlier this year about his experience with medicinal cannabis. Hardwick talked about the debilitating pain he had been in, and how much it had affected his quality of life. Then he found cannabis. He said, “This [medicinal cannabis] takes the pain from a nine to a two.” Hearing about the positive cannabis experiences that these and other much loved and respected sports figures have had, is a tremendous positive boost in the general populations opionion of the value of cannabis. Comments are closed.
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