Two papers were presented by CODA Research staff at the November meeting of the American Association for Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD) in Philadelphia. The first was “Impact of Readiness-to-Change on Massage Therapy for Chronic Pain in Opioid Dependent Patients.” It reported that regardless of baseline pain level, people with more treatment motivation had larger decreases in pain. In this case, “treatment motivation” refers to the individual’s self-described readiness and commitment to treatment. (“Can you see yourself getting better?”)

The second paper was, “Nutritional Status, Chronic Pain, and Body Mass Index.” The authors were interested in whether nutritional status was related to a patient’s pain level or their body mass index. Body mass index is a measure that incorporates height and weight. Individuals at high nutritional risk had similar pain scores and body mass as other patients not at nutritional risk when they started treatment. One of the findings suggests an important area for patient awareness, 49% of all new patients gained 10 or more pounds in the first six months of treatment.