Cigarette smoking can impact every system in your body. The health of the
spine and smoking are rarely discussed with patients who do smoke. Very few
smokers know that the spine is one of the first areas where symptoms will show
up from damage related to smoking. The reason this happens is the spine relies
on very small blood vessels for nutrition and maintenance. Damage to smaller
blood vessels from smoking will show up before damage to larger blood vessels.
Typically symptoms include low back or neck pain. As the damage to the small
blood vessels of the spine continues, there is a decrease in blood flow to the
spine and the surrounding tissue. This makes it very hard for the spine to
recover and heal. As the soft tissue in the spine wears out, it is replaced
with bone. This is the process of arthritis. Smokers are much more susceptible
to accelerated arthritis and injuries to their spine, on average, take twice
as long to heal. Just ask any chiropractor. The best thing you can do is quit
smoking. The damage to the entire body is just not worth it. I hope this helps
our patients understand the damage being done from smoking from a chiropractic
perspective.