If you want to get better faster and with less pain after a disc injury, don’t smoke.
It’s no surprise that smoking is bad for you. If you are a smoker, you’ve most likely been told by friends, family members, and your doctor to quit the habit already a million times. However, as a chiropractor, let me be perhaps the first to state it this way: smoking is terrible for your health after a disc injury.
In this study by Tsarouhas A et al. the authors state, ” Smoking habits were found to have a negative dose-dependent effect on the transcript levels of MMP-3 and MMP-13 and a positive correlation with pain intensity, suggesting an unfavorable role for smoking in the regression process of herniated disc fragments. “
In other words, smokers take longer to heal after a disc injury. Smokers also experience more pain with disc injury than non-smokers. Anyone who has had a cervical or lumbar disc herniation can tell you, they can be extremely painful and debilitating. Therefore, you should give yourself every advantage when you are trying to heal after such an injury to your spine. If you are a smoker, be aware that continuing to smoke during the healing process has been demonstrated to slow recovery, increase pain intensity, and result in poor outcomes. So stop smoking for disc health!
In sharing this study and the information in it, it is my hope that if you are a smoker experiencing back pain, but especially back pain due to trauma or disc injury, you seriously consider quitting immediately. I know you’ve heard it before about the negative health consequences of smoking cigarettes, but this study makes the connection between smoking and back pain in a way most people are still unaware.
I have no doubt that studies coming out in the future will build on the negative relationship between smoking and back pain, but in the meantime if you want my clinical advice: stop smoking for disc health now to improve your outcomes from suffering a spine related injury. Of course this is in addition to eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly, and if you need help doing that call (203)2350171 today.