My name is Matthew Thouin Pelligrino and since I was young, I have been involved in board sports like skateboarding and snowboarding. Later in my teenage years, I slowly integrated contact sports such as karate and taekwondo.

I never liked to practice team sports. At the moment, I am training hard in a martial art called Muay Thai (Thai kick boxing). I have been training on a regular basis for several years and I will be competing at the amateur level somewhere this summer, with no specific date yet. This is the sport I will be talking about in our Instagram Live session.

I have been a massage therapist for the past 15 years of my life and have been fortunate enough to work with many high-profile athletes in the NFL, CFL, NHL and UFC. I think it would be interesting to focus on this topic without identifying any names. The vast majority of these athletes use cannabis in various forms to help reduce muscle tension and inflammation from the rigorous workouts they do on a daily basis.

I have suffered several serious injuries from the sports I practice. I injured my lower back while snowboarding and it took me months before I could return to my sport. A trivial accident that cost me several months of my life where I was very limited on all my movements.

Recently, I fractured a rib while practicing Muay Thai. I was supposed to take over a month off from work, but I healed my injury in less than two weeks with a combination of CBD and yoga. Both of these have helped me come back strong and I would say completely healed my injury. This plant fascinates me!

I do my own indoor and outdoor cannabis harvesting. I enjoy learning as much as I can about the development of the plant and its therapeutic properties. I smoke THC on a regular basis, especially in the evening after my intense workout of the day. I also started taking CBD drops every day and have seen a great improvement in my muscle recovery. My athlete clients have been very supportive of me starting a CBD treatment and I must say that this is a new addition to my life with this cannabinoid.

Overall, my mental health is doing great. Like everyone else, I go through things from time to time in my life, but I have never been a person who is overly stressed with what life throws at me as a challenge. I would say that THC helps me to mentally disconnect after a heavy workload and training.

The use of cannabis is still recent in my life, and I would say that it is definitely an added value in my routine, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it is a need. I can easily go several days and even weeks without using.

 

WARNING: The stories we are sharing are the stories of the individuals who have chosen to speak out. These stories are in no way a substitute for the advice of your health care professional regarding your personal situation. If you have any questions about your health and the use of cannabis, please consult a health care professional.