When vaping first started to become popular, it was marketed as a cleaner and healthier alternative to traditional smoking. These battery-powered vape devices produce an aerosol that looks like water vapor but contains nicotine, flavoring and more than 30 other chemicals. Once that aerosol makes its way into your lungs, nicotine and those other chemicals end up getting into your bloodstream.
And while many still view vaping as a healthier alternative to smoking, research is showing that vapes can have the same detrimental effects on your spine health as cigarettes. Below, we take a closer look at how vaping can impact your spine health.
Vaping And Your Spinal Discs
For starters, vaping can cause major issues for your spinal discs. These discs sit between your vertebrae and act as natural spacers while providing mobility and flexibility to the spinal column. They are soft and gel-like, and in order to perform their function to the best of their ability, they need to remain in this state, or at least thin out naturally over the course of decades or normal wear and tear.
Vaping can expedite this disc height loss, as studies have shown that similar to a cigarette, an vape solution can increase the degeneration of both the vasculature and nucleus pulposus and annulus fibrosus cells. Not only that, but nicotine vaping can also lead to degeneration of tendons, ligaments, muscles and other soft tissues that support the spine. The spine becomes less stable as these soft tissues degenerate, and the loss in disc height makes your spine less able to handle normal movements. Once normal movements become painful, you may be at a heightened risk for a more severe injury like a herniated disc because your discs can’t support your spine like they used to.
Vaping And Bone Health
Vaping can also cause problems for the bone producing areas of your spine. Your body is constantly working to replace old worn bone with new, healthy bone, and if this bone production process is thrown off, your spinal bone density can suffer. As you might imagine, vaping can negatively impact bone production.
A study out of Sweden found that one of the chemicals inside electronic vape fluid – cadmium – can be particularly problematic for your bone production. They found that even a low level of cadmium exposure was associated with negative effects on a person’s bones. Cadmium and other substances like nicotine and flavoring liquid could also negatively affect osteoblast proliferation. Osteoblasts are the cells that are necessary for bone synthesis and mineralization, both during initial bone formation and during bone reformation. If these cells aren’t as plentiful within the spinal column as necessary due to nicotine vaping, your bone density can suffer. This can put an individual at risk for a number of conditions, including osteoporosis and spinal fractures.
Simply put, vaping and e-cigarettes are certainly not a healthier option for your spine than a standard cigarette. All of the chemicals in vape fluid can speed up natural degeneration in your spine and make it harder for your body to produce healthy replacement bone as needed. Your best bet is to kick your nicotine habit altogether instead of looking for an alternative to traditional cigarettes.
If you’re experiencing back pain and you think it may be tied to tobacco or nicotine use, reach out to Dr. Sinicropi and the team at The Midwest Spine & Brain Institute. It’s never too late to quit, and we can help to improve the health of your bones and soft tissues so that you can retain normal mobility in your back for years to come. For answers to your questions, reach out to our team today at (651) 430-3800.
