Over a four-month period, physiotherapist Chris Ott (RIGHT) collaborated with like-minded practitioner, Matt Esrick, and hmptns.co to create a massage cream that could be used in a physical therapy practice. 

HMPTNS:  What led you to a career in physiotherapy?

Chris Ott: My interest in the human body began during high school and college with my practice of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, martial arts and weight lifting.  The potential of the human body was fascinating to me combined with the opportunity to help others unlock the potential of their body. 

Matt Esrick: It was a change of career for me, I started out in the business consulting field. But ultimately my physical hobbies and involvement in multiple training facilities kept leading me back to PT. I like puzzles and helping people, and there is no greater task than deciphering how to optimize the human body.

HMPTNS:  Before working with HMPTNS CBD, what has been your professional understanding of CBD? How did your educate yourself on the compound?

Chris: Prior to working with HMPTNS CBD, I understood that this was a component of the marijuana plant that could provide pain relief without psychoactive effects.

Matt: I was in the process of creating my own CBD product line so I’ve done quite a bit of research, prototyping and testing of this compound. In terms of education, a lot of reading on chemistry, toxicology, and neuropharmacology.

HMPTNS:  What was is your personal experience with CBD?

Chris: I personally have used it on multiple achy and sore muscles with positive response. After having many patients report positive results with their use, I began recommending it to others and continued to get more positive feedback in managing their pain from a variety of ailments including muscle aches, arthritis, neuropathies and headaches.

Matt: Daily use in my clinic as a lotion for pain, inflammation, massage, or as an emollient/moisturizer. For myself, I use CBD lotion as a moisturizer mostly and have come to mix my own CBD teas.Everyday I am using my hands as therapist and I find that using CBD lotion helps prevent hand pain from such a workload.

CBD Massage Cream Calms Inflammation

HMPTNS:  Do you use Bluff Road Massage Cream during a session? What do your patients say about the experience? How has Bluff Road Massage Cream changed your work?

Chris: I use Bluff Road Massage Cream frequently to enhance soft tissue work over inflamed areas since it works well to calm the inflammation down. Patients agree that they feel reduction in pain after using this product. It has allowed me to get my patients through a therapy session even when they are inflamed since it works so well.

Matt: I use it on nearly every patient that comes to the clinic. It makes the hands-on work more effective since using it introduces a secondary avenue of treatment.

HMPTNS:  How do you describe the benefits for Bluff Road Massage Cream to potential partners?

Chris: The cream brings a chemical-free, clean and ethically sourced local CBD product to the market at a competitive price. 

Matt: Science often goes over people’s heads, so I tell them to try it and see for themselves. Typically it only takes the single trial run for them to experience benefit and understand why having it for their own use would be helpful. When you combine that with the fact that is currently the strongest CBD lotion on the market, it sells itself.

CBD Massage Cream Addresses Pain at the Source

HMPTNS:  If you could tell the medical community about the benefits of CBD massage cream, what would you tell them? 

Chris: CBD is an easy and effective option for addressing pain at the source that absorbs well into the skin. I especially like that it is an anti-inflammatory that doesn’t have to enter the bloodstream.

Matt: CBD lotion impacts CB-2 receptors, assisting the neurological and immune system tissues with clearing inflammation and thus mitigating the pain response. Additionally because of the other properties of the lotion, and coupling it with massage, you are treating the condition on multiple fronts.

HMPTNS:  If you could alleviate concerns or the questions the medical community may have about CBD massage cream, what would you say their concerns are and how would you provide them with comfort? 

Chris: At this point there is overwhelming anecdotal evidence that CBD, especially when used topically, is safe. There was a small double blind study, The Effectiveness of Topical Cannabidiol Oil in Symptomatic Relief of Peripheral Neuropathy of the Lower Extremities, that came out this year that had 29 people, half of whom received topical CBD for neuropathic pain. There were no adverse reactions noted. I cannot find a single study, medical article or journal that reports an adverse reaction to topical CBD.

Matt: Most will refer to studies involving interactions between CBD and heart conditions that lead to respiratory distress. However, as Chris mentioned, this is not topically administered so the absorption and active pathways are completely different. Furthermore, the quantity of CBD for such an interaction is basically lab rat level, meaning that it vastly exceeds a normal dose. Concerns over effectiveness are also frequent. Again, I encourage people to try it and decide for themselves. There are well studied pharmaceuticals that have been around for decades that don’t work for everybody. I don’t know why they would approach this with a different understanding.

HMPTNS:  What has been your experience working with the HMPTNS team? 

Chris: In our practice, we needed a product that allowed for the gliding motions required by quality manual therapy. Early versions of the product were too watery. The HMPTNS team heard our feedback and the product was improved with the formula becoming much easier to work with. 

Matt: The HMPTNS team is receptive to feedback and shares many of my concerns and  objectives in developing a product such as this. That’s why teaming up has been a worthwhile endeavor. I do wish they made the Bluff Road cream unscented, but there are benefits to Kalahari Melon Oil.

Chris Ott East End Physical Therapy

Matt Esrick Honest Physical Therapy

Bluff Road Massage Cream is perfect for massaging chronic problem areas. 4,500mg of full-spectrum CBD, Kalahari melon oil and plenty of glide make for a deep massage and incomparable relief.

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