How CBD got me back in the game

Professional golfer David Salisbury claims taking CBD has helped him ditch pain medication and get his performance back above par.

David Salisbury has played golf professionally for more than two decades, but off the course he has been battling a number of health conditions, which have held him back.

David, 45, suffered stomach problems since he was a child, which eventually led to him being diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease.

The chronic autoimmune condition, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, can cause a wide range of symptoms, but for David it is the crippling stomach pain that is the most debilitating.

On top of that he also has mixed connective tissue disease, back pain and arthritis, which some days leaves him unable to get out of bed, let alone swing a golf club.

At one point he was taking five different types of medication – more than 30 tablets a day.

“I’ve always been in a lot of pain and spend many of my days not wanting to do anything as everything hurts too much,” says the dad-of-one, who lives in Essex.

“It doesn’t bode well for my career and teaching golf, as it affects my swing and range of movement.

“As a professional golfer, my health has definitely held me back.”

When David met the founder of CBD brand 21atoms, he was about to give up on CBD, having found other brands to be ineffective.

Despite his scepticism, he was encouraged to give their 2000mg oil a try, and took part in a nine month case study, while the team monitored the effects it had on his pain and inflammation.

After a few weeks of taking three drops of the oil morning and night, he reported an improvement in his symptoms and soon he was able to reduce his five medications to just one.

“My stomach has been a lot better since I started taking the oil, and I haven’t been in that crippling pain, where you just curl up in a ball and have no idea when it’s going to stop,” he says.

As with many conditions, stress is usually an aggravating factor for David’s symptoms, but he says that despite the strain of being at home with his young son during the coronavirus lockdown, he hasn’t experienced a flare up.

“Stress usually makes everything worse and with us being at home for around seven months now, running around after a five-year-old, I expected things to get really bad. The fact that they haven’t says a lot.”

David also claims that his arthritis and back pain have improved and as a result he’s noticed a difference in his performance on the golf course.

“It has really helped my range of movement, I’m able to hit the ball further in golf than I ever could before,” he says.

“I first noticed this when I was doing a coaching lesson and demonstrating how to swing your golf club. Normally, I would have to stretch and warm up for around 20 minutes prior to swinging the club but I just did it without thinking.”

David continues: “I still get a lot of pain, but it’s nowhere near as bad as it was. Usually in the winter I wouldn’t be able to play at all because it would be too painful for me in the cold weather.”

Co-founder of 21atoms, Uday Bhatt, who created the product himself, believes it’s the brand’s focus on quality and potency, which has brought about results for David.

“Unlike most other brands who claim to know what they are selling, we really do,” he says.

“We are genuinely full spectrum and our quality management system (QMS) has a number of standards that must be met for our extracts.”

These include only using AAA grade female flowers, ensuring the plants are fertiliser and contaminant free and flushed three weeks before harvesting, and that no artificial flavours, sweetness or preservatives are used with only 100 percent natural botanical ingredients.

The products which are made in by the 21 Atoms team in the UK are then independently laboratory tested.

“We are the only company I know of that has actually developed our own formulas based on nine months of case study work,” Uday adds.

“David was among several customers using our oil who allowed us to monitor the reduction of pain and inflammation, improving sleep and reducing anxiety, and improving skin conditions such as acne and eczema.

“That’s why our tagline is ‘not all CBD is the same’.”

David monitored his dosage carefully and only began to increase after a few weeks as he slowly came off his medication.

After thinking his professional career was more or less over, David now has his sights set on playing the European Seniors Tour when he turns 50.

“I wasn’t even considering that before, as it takes so much preparation and practice beforehand, but if I continue on this road and everything keeps improving I can see it being a feasible option,” he says.

“I think it would be good to set myself a little goal – that’s definitely something that is now on the table for me.”

While David has no medical evidence to back up his claims, the only thing he has been doing differently is taking CBD – and he has no intention of giving it up.

“I would never want to stop taking CBD now,” he adds.

“When you start doing something that makes everything feel better, the last thing you want to do is stop it.”