Smoking linked to chronic lower back pain

Smokers can add another health concern to their list as research shows daily tobacco use can lead to a bad back.

A major Canadian study has identified a higher rate of chronic lower back pain among people who smoke every day, particularly the young.

Professor Michael Cousins said the research suggested their smoking was interfering with pain transmitters, causing osteoporosis or affecting their spine-related blood circulation.

The condition resulted in chronic lower back pain which could also trigger a "downward spiral" in a person's life, he warned.

"Chronic pain is now regarded as a disease in its own right," said Prof Cousins, who is director of the Pain Management Research Institute at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital.

"Patients with it rapidly progress into a downward spiral of physical, psychological and environmental changes, resulting in major deterioration of all life activities, in their work, family and community roles."

Prof Cousins commented on the study published in the journal Clinical and Investigative Medicine.

Researchers used health survey data from more than 73,000 people aged 20-59 to look for any link between smoking and back pain.

They found that while 15.7 per cent of non-smokers reported chronic pain, for daily smokers the figure was 23.3 per cent and the association was stronger in younger adults.

The study was controlled to ensure weight, fitness, education and other factors which can differ between smokers and non-smokers did not skew the results.

"Back pain treatment programs may benefit from integrating smoking habit modification," the researchers said.

Lobby group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Australia said the finding was significant as back pain was experienced by four out of five Australians.

It was also a major cause of work absence and productivity loss, with the combined health and workplace cost estimated at more than $9 billion a year.

"This study further strengthens the case for stepping up the fight against tobacco at all levels," said ASH chief executive Anne Jones.

"This should include an immediate tax increase and making all workplaces comprehensively smokefree in line with our commitment to the international anti-tobacco treaty."