Can Smoking Affect Spine Health? Here’s What Research Says

It is well known that smoking has adverse effects on our lungs and increases the risk of respiratory diseases and cancer. But most nicotine users are not aware that it can also have a harmful impact on the spine.

A systematic review aimed at assessing the relationship between smoking and degenerative spinal disease (DVD) was published in the Brain and Spine Journal. The research mentioned that degenerative diseases of the spine are very common, especially those affecting the cervical and lumbar spine and intervertebral discs (IVD). The study mentioned that degenerative diseases of the spine are very common. The assessment found evidence that smoking is a risk factor for spinal stenosis. It also inferred that as a result of addiction to tobacco, spinal stenosis worsens into spondylolysis (a fracture of the pars interarticularis) and further progresses into spondylolisthesis, (the anterior displacement of the affected vertebrae).

The same study mentioned that nicotine was identified as a key component in DSD. Certain tissues and genes that maintain the health of the spine can be damaged by the element. Apart from nicotine, the review stated that other elements in a cigarette, for example, cardiotoxic metals like cadmium, nickel, and chromium, among others, as well as oxidants, and polycyclic hydrocarbons, have a harmful effect.

Not just degenerative spinal diseases but also spinal cord injury pain is enhanced by nicotine, as per a study published in Topics in Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation. It concluded that while non-smokers showed a reduction in pain, for ardent smokers it increased. Along the same lines, another study in the Journal of Neurological Sciences inferred that a neurotoxin found in cigarettes called acrolein intensified neuropathic pain after spinal cord injuries.

The National Spine Health Foundation has stated that smoking plays a part in accelerating bone density loss, leading to osteoporosis. The rate at which one loses bone density depends on the number of cigarettes smoked each day and the number of years of exposure. They also mention that even passive smokers are at risk in this case.

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