Puffing Your Way To Low Back Pain

With low back pain affecting 8 in 10 adults, Finnish researchers recently set out to examine existing research and determine if smoking really was associated with an increase in low back pain. The researchers reviewed more than 80 studies from around the world conducted between 1966 and 2009. While they were unable to clearly say that smoking leads to low back pain, they did find that smokers are at a 31 percent increased risk for low back pain as compared with nonsmokers. The strongest association with smoking was with those suffering from chronic and disabling low back pain. Additionally, researchers found that adolescent smokers were more vulnerable to the effects of smoking than were adults. If you're a smoker, both we and your back urge you to quit now!