It should come to nobody’s surprise that smoking could be the reason behind a number of different illnesses, for a wide selection of reasons. Yet when people consider smoking and its adversarial effects on the body, they sometimes consider the lungs, or the guts. In fact, one in every of the primary signs of excessive smoking shall be chronic pain, especially within the joints.
It’s not only that smoke inhalation can affect healing and recovery, that nicotine is a dangerous and toxic substance in higher quantities, or that the pesticides utilized in the production of tobacco are carcinogenic. It’s a mix of every of these items leading to entirely different problems within the body – including worsening symptoms of joint pain from smoking with arthritis.
The Links Between Smoking and Arthritis
Arthritis is a generic term for multiple different causes of joint pain, including conditions where joint pain is the first symptom. Normally, when an individual has arthritis, which means they’re experiencing joint pain.
Some types of arthritis are the result of damage and tear, exacerbated by lifestyle selections akin to smoking. Other types of arthritis are attributable to auto-immune disorders, where the body begins attacking its own healthy tissue, mistaking it for an infection or a foreign body. In total, there are over 100 different conditions that cause or are linked to serious joint pain. Yet all of them are impacted by smoking, in addition to other types of tobacco or nicotine consumption.
Smoking can negatively affect most types of arthritis by:
- Damaging your blood vessels
- Negatively impacting healing
- Increasing pain perception
- Decreasing bone mass and joint stability
- Increasing post-surgical complications
- Interfering with anti-arthritic pain medication
- Causing worse symptoms in auto-immune disorders
How Smoking Affects Joint Pain
Tobacco smoke leads to the buildup of tar in your lung tissue, which your body does a reasonably poor job of removing by itself. While the lungs are able to an excellent deal of self-cleaning through the chemical breakdown of certain irritants and the physical removal of unwanted material through coughing, there may be a limit to what the lungs can handle, and regular doses of inhaled smoke often go well beyond that limit.
The physical irritation of the lungs can affect the body’s ability to oxygenate the blood, slowing down recovery and healing. The joints in your extremities are at a greater risk of pain in consequence of this, since it takes longer for blood to achieve these parts of the body.
Nicotine is another excuse smoking can interfere with joint health. While the immediate use of nicotine leads to a nice sensation, nicotine consumption – whether through chewing tobacco, gum, vapor, or smoke – affects the brain, the guts, your nerves, and your bones.
Nicotine consumption is linked to decreased bone mass, poorer bone health, and better rates of osteoporosis. Moreover, continued nicotine use can contribute to increased pain perception (lower pain thresholds) and interfere with common arthritis medication, akin to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and other painkillers.
No matter what form of arthritis it’s possible you’ll be diagnosed with, studies show that smoking can worsen your joint pain.
- Increased inflammation: one in every of the predominant contributors to recurring or chronic arthritis is increased inflammation within the body. Inflammation is usually a superb thing – but an excess amount, especially in a localized area, could cause significant discomfort. Smoking increases inflammation in a wide range of ways, including lung damage, a direct buildup of white blood cells in response to nicotine use, tissue degeneration as a result of poor blood flow, and an aggravated immune system.
- Nicotine and blood flow: While the physical impact of smoking can reduce blood flow and oxygen saturation, nicotine itself also interferes with blood pressure as a stimulant. Like coffee, nicotine narrows the blood vessels and causes a rise in blood pressure, alongside a better risk of an aneurysm or stroke. Nicotine also hardens arterial partitions, greatly increasing the danger of a heart attack – and increasing joint pain.
- The link between smoking and rheumatoid arthritis: Auto-immune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis and gout are common causes of joint pain. Smoking can trigger these disorders to enter overdrive, exacerbating symptoms and increasing pain.
- Tobacco accelerates joint damage and reduces bone mass and joint mobility: Healthy blood flow and oxygen saturation are vital aspects of a healthy circulatory system, which is crucial to assist with the upkeep of damaged tissue. Osteoarthritis, which is joint pain attributable to wear and tear, could also be caused or exacerbated by lifestyle aspects like smoking, which limit the body’s ability to repair damaged tissue and keep your joints healthy. This leads to greater joint stiffness, lack of mobility, and pain in movement.
- Smoking complicates treatment: along with limiting the results of conventional non-opioid painkillers, smoking can complicate arthritis treatment by affecting a patient’s eligibility for other types of pain modulation, including implantable neurostimulators or pain pumps. Smoking also increases the danger of infection after surgery, which suggests doctors could also be given pause when recommending surgery as a superb option for his or her patient’s joint pain.
Your Arthritis is Asking You to Quit
Whether it’s through increased pain perception, worsened symptoms of gout, higher inflammation, or as a result of the overall risk of death through heart disease, stroke, or cancer, a health care provider’s first advice to a smoking patient with a history of chronic illness could be to quit smoking.
After all, quitting is less complicated said than done. The conviction to quit smoking is never enough to kill the habit, as smoking could be addictive in additional ways than one. Nicotine itself is an addictive substance, triggering intense cravings even months after the last cigarette. But there are other aspects that make quitting smoking harder than even certain illicit drugs, akin to the ever-present availability of tobacco products, or the social nature of smoking, just like the smoke break, or seeing friends proceed to smoke around you.
Support is very important, each throughout the family and the community. Discuss with your pain specialist or doctor about local support groups or nicotine or cigarette addiction, and consider working with a therapist to make it easier to and your loved ones create a more ex-smoker-friendly home environment.
