MORE REASONS NOT TO SMOKE

Cigarettes Rise to Fame

In the 50s, the public watched movie stars such as James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, Humphrey Bogart, Sophia Loren, Marylyn Monroe, and many more on the big movie screens with a cigarette in hand. If you smoked, you were glamorous or cool. Continuing through the 60s the popularity of smoking grew. While tobacco use has declined some since it peaked in the 60s, it is on the rise again. Truth Initiative released a short video “While You Were Streaming: Smoking on Demand.” Popular TV shows such as “Stranger Things” and “Orange Is the New Black” are attracting people to smoking in the same manner as the 50s and 60s.

Here is a concerning statistic released by a CDC report in 2018 called Economic Trends of Tobacco:

Smoking-related illness in the United States costs more than $300 billion each year, including:
• Nearly $170 billion for direct medical care for adults
• More than $156 billion in lost productivity, including $5.6 billion in lost productivity due to second-hand smoke exposure.

How Smoking Affects Healing

We have all seen or heard ads about how smoking is addictive and causes cancer. But what some do not realize is that smoking and second-hand smoke have other effects on the body. As a rehabilitation center, one of our concerns is how smoking affects and slows the body’s healing process. Let’s look at just how smoking does this.

Increases Healing Time

Smoking makes it more difficult for your body to get oxygen and nutrients to the injury or surgical site. This slows down healing and may extend the duration of your pain.

Nicotine deprives oxygen and nutrients to the body: The blood vessels supply oxygen and nutrients to the cells.Nicotine narrows blood vessels and also makes the blood thicker. It makes it harder for your vessels to supply your body with the necessary oxygen and nutrients.

Nicotine causes blood clots: Blood clots prevent excessive bleeding when your body is injured. Consider it as an emergency response mechanism of the body. When the emergency is over and the body is trying to heal, you do not want the blood to clot. You want the blood flowing freely to and from the site of injury. Nicotine causes the platelets (colorless blood cells that help blood clot) to clump and form clots. The clots then block the small blood vessels that carry blood and oxygen to the body.

The carbon monoxide interferes with the oxygen supply: When you breathe in air, the oxygen from the air binds with a molecule in the blood called hemoglobin. Cigarettes and cigars contain carbon monoxide (CO). CO, like oxygen, binds to the hemoglobin that prefers the CO to oxygen. As you breathe in more CO, it lowers the level of oxygen reaching the cells. And when cells do not get enough oxygen, their metabolism is disrupted and, the cells begin to die.

Can interfere with Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections (PRP): Plasma is the liquid part of your blood that’s mostly made of water and protein. It lets red and white blood cells and platelets move through your bloodstream. PRP is a concentration of a patient’s own platelets injected into the injured tendons, ligaments, muscles and joints to speed healing. However, it has been found that the substances inhaled from cigarettes can inhibit the effectiveness of PRP.

Your bones may not heal.

When a broken bone does not heal, it is called a non-union. Non-unions can happen when there is not enough stability, blood flow, or both. As covered above, smokers have problems with blood flow. Smokers may have anywhere from 2-10 times the risk of wound problems and/or non-union after surgery.

Your body has trouble fighting infections.

Smokers have shown to have up to four times the risk of infection after surgery. Chemicals in cigarette smoke limit the activity of infection-fighting cells called neutrophils. Neutrophils are cells that get rid of bacteria that can cause an infection. Without normal neutrophils, an infection could set in that may require antibiotics or even more surgery to cure.

What Can You Do?

To speed up healing and prevent further injuries, the best thing you can do is quit smoking. We know it is easier said than done because of the addictive nature of cigarettes. But you are not alone. There are online sites such as smokefree.gov that give tools and tips on how to quit smoking. Also, we can help you on the road to a healthier life. Chiropractic, vitamin therapy, and better nutrition, can help you quit smoking while also helping you heal faster. We specialize in rejuvenating therapies here at the Carolina Rehab Center.

We wish you the best on your road to healing.

Sincerely,

Dr. J. Craig Strickland, DC
Carolina Rehab and Physical Medicine Center
1211 48th Ave N
Little River, SC 29577