<p>Smokers are three times more likely than nonsmokers to develop chronic back pain, but kicking the butt lowers the chances of developing this often debilitating condition, a new study has found.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"Smoking affects the brain," said Bogdan Petre, lead author of the study and a technical scientist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.<br /><br />"We found that it affects the way the brain responds to back pain and seems to make individuals less resilient to an episode of pain," Petre said.<br /><br />This is the first evidence to link smoking and chronic pain with the part of the brain associated with addiction and reward, researchers said.<br /><br />The results come from a longitudinal observational study of 160 adults with new cases of back pain.<br /><br />At five different times throughout the course of a year they were given MRI brain scans and were asked to rate the intensity of their back pain and fill out a questionnaire which asked about smoking status and other health issues.<br /><br />Thirty-five healthy control participants and 32 participants with chronic back pain were similarly monitored.<br /><br />Scientists analysed MRI activity between two brain areas (nucleus accumbens and medial prefrontal cortex, NAc-mPFC), which are involved in addictive behaviour, and motivated learning.<br /><br />This circuitry is critical in development of chronic pain, scientists found.<br /><br />These two regions of the brain 'talk' to one another and scientists found that the strength of that connection helps determine who will become a chronic pain patient.<br /><br />By showing how a part of the brain involved in motivated learning allows tobacco addiction to interface with pain chronification, the findings hint at a potentially more general link between addiction and pain.<br /><br />"That circuit was very strong and active in the brain's of smokers," Petre said.<br /><br />"But we saw a dramatic drop in this circuit's activity in smokers who - of their own will - quit smoking during the study, so when they stopped smoking, their vulnerably to chronic pain also decreased," Petre added.<br /><br />The study was published in the journal Human Brain Mapping.</p>
<p>Smokers are three times more likely than nonsmokers to develop chronic back pain, but kicking the butt lowers the chances of developing this often debilitating condition, a new study has found.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"Smoking affects the brain," said Bogdan Petre, lead author of the study and a technical scientist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.<br /><br />"We found that it affects the way the brain responds to back pain and seems to make individuals less resilient to an episode of pain," Petre said.<br /><br />This is the first evidence to link smoking and chronic pain with the part of the brain associated with addiction and reward, researchers said.<br /><br />The results come from a longitudinal observational study of 160 adults with new cases of back pain.<br /><br />At five different times throughout the course of a year they were given MRI brain scans and were asked to rate the intensity of their back pain and fill out a questionnaire which asked about smoking status and other health issues.<br /><br />Thirty-five healthy control participants and 32 participants with chronic back pain were similarly monitored.<br /><br />Scientists analysed MRI activity between two brain areas (nucleus accumbens and medial prefrontal cortex, NAc-mPFC), which are involved in addictive behaviour, and motivated learning.<br /><br />This circuitry is critical in development of chronic pain, scientists found.<br /><br />These two regions of the brain 'talk' to one another and scientists found that the strength of that connection helps determine who will become a chronic pain patient.<br /><br />By showing how a part of the brain involved in motivated learning allows tobacco addiction to interface with pain chronification, the findings hint at a potentially more general link between addiction and pain.<br /><br />"That circuit was very strong and active in the brain's of smokers," Petre said.<br /><br />"But we saw a dramatic drop in this circuit's activity in smokers who - of their own will - quit smoking during the study, so when they stopped smoking, their vulnerably to chronic pain also decreased," Petre added.<br /><br />The study was published in the journal Human Brain Mapping.</p>