Don’t Smoke ‘Em, Even If You Got ‘Em

Remember the Hee Haw skit where a patient would move his arm and tell Archie Campbell, “It hurts when I do this.” The sage medical advice from Dr. Campbell, after hitting the patient with a rubber chicken, would be, “Then, don’t do that!”

 

A recent Northwestern University medical study, highlighted in ScienceDaily and Medical News Today, now supports with evidence some common sense we’ve all known for years:

• Smoking is linked to increased risk of chronic pain;

• Smokers with new back pain are less likely to recover.

 

According to Bogdan Petre, lead author, “We found that [smoking] affects the way the brain responds to back pain and seems to make individuals less resilient to an episode of pain.” Essentially, the researchers found that connections between the brain regions that involve addiction behavior and motivated learning play a crucial role in chronic pain development, and this circuitry is adversely impacted by smoking.

 

Are your Nurse Case Managers proactive with patients who smoke? Or do they just say, “Then, don’t do that!” The latest scientific evidence combined with 25 years of real world experience in improving outcomes — it’s what we do.

 

Call us. We can do better.

William Faris, JD
Chief Executive Officer
502-495-5040
william.faris@omca.biz
www.omca.biz

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