Welcome to the terrible take, a daily segment telling Steeler Nation what's on our minds.

I'm Melanie Freelander.

On Thursday, the NFL and the NFL PA announced that they are jointly awarding two grants in research funding

totaling just over half a million dollars to independent medical

researchers.

The funds will be divided to sponsor studies proposed

by the American Society of Pain and Neuroscience

and Emory University.

The grants will fund research to evaluate alternative pain management methods that could

benefit NFL players, as well as society at large.

The studies will investigate the effects of CBD and non-invasive

vagal nerve simulation on alleviating concussion symptoms and mindfulness

based intervention in sports medicine injuries. They will also look at the

potential benefit of CBD in treating post-concussion headaches.

This is not the first time the NFL and the NFL PA have sponsored research on cannabis and

neurologic methods for alternative treatments for pain.

Following their first request for proposals in 2021, the NFL NFLPA Joint Pain Management

Committee awarded a total of $1 million to sponsor two different studies on the effects of cannabis on pain and recovery from sports related injuries in elite athletes.

The investigators from University of California San Diego will be evaluating rugby players since NFL players are prohibited from using

CBD. Neither group from last year has published their findings yet.

The members of the Payne Management Committee said all the right things claiming that the health and

safety of players is always the highest priority. Dr. Allen Sills, NFL chief medical officer,

...