The study can’t say why the more soldiers smoke, the greater the
increase in their risk of “overuse musculoskeletal injuries,” but
since smoking is a preventable risk factor, it’s another good reason
to quit, they write in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.
Smoking rates are higher, at about 35 percent, in the U.S. military
than in the general U.S. population, where about 19 percent of
civilians smoke, the authors write.
Muscle and bone injuries are also very common for military members,
said lead author Dr. Sheryl Bedno of the Womack Army Medical Center
in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, adding that as many as one third of
military men and two thirds of military women seek medical care for
these types of injuries.
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“We suspected that smoking was associated with injury, but the
findings from the research were not consistent,” Bedno told Reuters
Health by email. She noted that smoking decreases bone density and
slows down wound healing.
To determine whether smoking is linked to injury among members of
the military, the study team reviewed 18 studies on military
training injuries, such as stress fractures, hip fractures, knee
pain or lower extremity injures and tobacco use.
Overall, they found that soldiers who smoked were 31 percent more
likely to sustain injuries than non-smokers. For women, the extra
injury risk tied to smoking was somewhat lower at 23 percent.
The more one smoked, the greater the risk increase. Nine studies had
data on the amount soldiers smoked, and they found that men who were
light smokers had 26 percent higher injury risk compared to
nonsmokers, and the heaviest smokers had an 84 percent risk
increase.
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Though smoking likely plays a large role in the increase in injury
risk, there may be other characteristics of people who smoke that
could have an effect on their risk, said Edgar Vieira, an injury
researcher who was not involved in the study.
“There are many other things that will have a stronger effect on
injury prevention than smoking cessation, such as reducing
overtraining, providing sufficient recovery time and stretching,”
said Vieira, who directs the physical therapy doctorate program at
Florida International University in Miami.
Even quitting smoking during training times may not be enough to
protect military members from injury, said Vieira, noting that the
inflammation and decreased blood flow caused by smoking can have
long-term effects.
“The best protection is not to smoke. In addition to all well know
health harms it causes, it may also increase your risk of injury,”
Vieira said.
“Smoking increases the chances of getting an exercise-related injury
about 30 percent, and the more you smoke, the higher the risk of
injury,” Bedno said. “We encourage anyone who smokes to stop at the
earliest time possible.”
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SOURCE: bit.ly/2rA30pC Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise,
online June 13, 2017.
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