You know the nicotine in cigarette smoke is bad for your heart and lungs. Well, it’s also bad for your bones.
Orthopedic surgeons have long known that smoking affects the health of the skeleton. The evidence has been so conclusive that many surgeons now encourage patients who smoke to at least try to quit before having surgery.
The authors of this study summarized the available research. How does smoking hurt your skeleton’s health? Let them count the ways.
- Smoking worsens bone mineral density, leading to osteoporosis. This is especially true in women, but it’s also holds true in men. People who smoke have higher rates of bone loss and seem to have more fractures than people who don’t.
- Smoking is related to low back pain. Studies find that people with low back pain are much more likely to be smokers–especially smokers with a chronic cough. Researchers don’t know if this is directly related to smoking or because smokers tend to be in worse physical shape.
- Smoking worsens the health of the disks in the spine. This is probably due to lower blood flow and changes in the blood caused by the nicotine in cigarettes.
- Smoking slows wound healing. Poor wound healing in smokers seems to be related to higher levels of infection after surgery. In one study, cigarette smokers were classified as high risk for post-operative wound infections, along with patients with systemic diseases and patients who were immune compromised.
- Smoking slows the healing of bone. It has been well documented that smokers have much poorer outcomes after certain types of joint surgeries. In one study, 40% of smokers who had lumbar fusion surgery had poor outcomes, compared to 8% of nonsmokers. Some studies suggest that nicotine slows down the formation of new bone. One study suggested that a nonsmoker can make one centimeter of new bone in two months, compared to three months for a smoker.
So if you don’t smoke, don’t start. If you smoke, quit. Your bones will be the better for it.