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The 2022 International Conference for Global Cooperation in Traditional Medicine was held in a hybrid meeting at the Novotel Ambassador Seoul Dongdaemun Hotel in Seoul on the 1st and 2nd of November 2022. This international conference was hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare of South Korea, organized by the National Institute for Korean Medicine Development, and supported by The Society of Korean Medicine. At this conference, a bilateral exchange of acupuncture and moxibustion therapies between Japan and Korea was held at the Republic of Korea-Japan Symposium I. The aims of the symposium were to combine conventional and traditional medical knowledge of frailty and sarcopenia and to share possible ideas to develop proper treatment for frailty and sarcopenia.
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The World Federation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (WFAS) General Assembly and International Conference were held online in combination with on-site administration in Singapore on 18th-20th, November 2022. Members of the new Executive Committee (the 10th EC) were elected and future host cities were discussed in the General Assembly. Activities during the 9th EC term including collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), activities in the standardization working committee, financial report and proposals from EC members were reviewed in the 9th EC meeting which was held prior to the General Assembly. In the present article, we report the results of the EC meeting and the General Assembly and key topics from the International Conference.
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[Objective] In the past, we reported results focusing on the immediate effect of psychosocial factors that influence the effects of acupuncture on patients with chronic low back pain. In the present study, we conducted a retrospective analysis of the data before and after four weeks of acupuncture therapy.[Materials and Methods] Fifty-three patients with an initial diagnosis of chronic low back pain who visited the Acupuncture Department of the Center for Integrative Medicine, Tsukuba University of Technology between August and December 2019 and showed baseline lumbar pain intensity by Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) > 30 mm, were subjects of this study. Psychosocial scales viz, Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ), social factors (cohabitation family situation, final education, social participation status), Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RDQ), and impression of acupuncture were recorded using a self-administered questionnaire at the first visit and at four weeks after the first acupuncture therapy. Based on VAS, RDQ, and anchor questions about low back pain before and four weeks after the acupuncture therapy, patients were classified into "effective group" and "non-effective group"; then, the logistic regression analysis was performed using this classification as a dependent variable. In addition, r repeated measures analysis of variance (rANOVA) was performed on the data before and after four weeks of acupuncture therapy.[Results and Discussion] The number of patients in the "effective group" and "non-effective group" were 24 and 29, respectively. Among items used as covariates in the logistic regression analysis, the PCS (OR: 0.924, P = 0.037) and age (OR: 0.418, P = 0.005) showed statistical significance. In the rANOVA, all the evaluated items showed statistically significant differences before and after four weeks; only VAS in motion showed a statistically significant difference (P = 0.046) regarding the presence or absence of an immediate effect. Therefore, it was suggested that it is important to focus on psychosocial factors from an early stage of therapy, and to make appropriate evaluations and judgments based on both physical and psychosocial aspects of patients to treat them effectively.
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The WFAS Annual Conference 2019 was held between November 14th and 17th at Kaya Palazzo Hotel, Antalya, Turkey. The WFAS executive committee was convened on the 14th. In the EC (Executive Committee) meeting, the JSAM proposed inclusion of the Declaration of Helsinki (DoH) in the WFAS Code of Ethics. Other issues discussed in the EC meeting included approval of the special consultative status by the the United Nations ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) and preparation of the next WFAS symposium in the Netherlands in 2020. Individual presentations and other exhibitions in the symposium are also introduced in the present report. In addition, recent large-scale RCTs of acupuncture conducted in China were reviewed.
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Objective: Various psychosocial factors were exploratively investigated in order to specify items that influence on immediate effect of acupuncture among patients with chronic low back pain. Method: Fifty-six outpatients with initial diagnosis of chronic low back pain, visiting the Acupuncture Department of Center for Integrative Medicine, Tsukuba University of Technology between August to December 2019 were included in the study. The baseline lumbar pain intensity of the patients evaluated using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was >30 mm. Psychological scales viz., Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ), social factors (cohabitation family situation, final education, social participation status), lumbar dysfunction, and impression on acupuncture were recorded using a self-administered questionnaire during the first visit. Patients showing decreased VAS scale (≦30 mm) after the first acupuncture treatment as well as self-recognition of improvement in pain were classified as “high responders” while the others were treated as “low responders”. Physical and psychosocial factors were exploratively compared between high and low responders and logistic regression analysis of the two groups was performed using a dichotomous dependent variable. Results and Discussion: The number of high and low responders were 22 and 34, respectively. On comparing these groups exploratively, positive (P＝0.001) and negative (P＝0.004) impression on acupuncture were the only items that showed statistical significance. Among items used as covariates in the logistic regression analysis, the PCS (OR: 0.886 (95% CI: 0.808 to 0.971); P＝0.010), positive impression on acupuncture (OR: 5.085 (95% CI: 1.724 to 15.002); P＝0.003), and number of people living together (OR: 0.355 (95% CI: 0.149 to 0.844); P＝0.019) showed statistical significance. Hence, it may be suggested that psychosocial factors influence the immediate effect of acupuncture among patients with chronic low back pain.
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Objective: Various psychosocial factors were exploratively investigated in order to specify items that influence on immediate effect of acupuncture among patients with chronic low back pain. Method: Fifty-six outpatients with initial diagnosis of chronic low back pain, visiting the Acupuncture Department of Center for Integrative Medicine, Tsukuba University of Technology between August to December 2019 were included in the study. The baseline lumbar pain intensity of the patients evaluated using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was >30 mm. Psychological scales viz., Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ), social factors (cohabitation family situation, final education, social participation status), lumbar dysfunction, and impression on acupuncture were recorded using a self-administered questionnaire during the first visit. Patients showing decreased VAS scale (≦30 mm) after the first acupuncture treatment as well as self-recognition of improvement in pain were classified as “high responders” while the others were treated as “low responders”. Physical and psychosocial factors were exploratively compared between high and low responders and logistic regression analysis of the two groups was performed using a dichotomous dependent variable. Results and Discussion: The number of high and low responders were 22 and 34, respectively. On comparing these groups exploratively, positive (P＝0.001) and negative (P＝0.004) impression on acupuncture were the only items that showed statistical significance. Among items used as covariates in the logistic regression analysis, the PCS (OR: 0.886 (95% CI: 0.808 to 0.971); P＝0.010), positive impression on acupuncture (OR: 5.085 (95% CI: 1.724 to 15.002); P＝0.003), and number of people living together (OR: 0.355 (95% CI: 0.149 to 0.844); P＝0.019) showed statistical significance. Hence, it may be suggested that psychosocial factors influence the immediate effect of acupuncture among patients with chronic low back pain.
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The WFAS Houston 2016 annual conference was held in the Royal Sonesta Hotel, Houston, Texas, USA from 31 October to 2 November 2014. The theme of the conference was "East Meets West -Shaping the Future of Healthcare", and more than 900 acupuncture practitioners and scientists participated. The number of papers presented was 216, including 6 keynote lectures. Papers from Japan numbered 11.<BR>At the Executive Committee (EC) meeting, 39 of the 76 EC members were present (10 EC members sent a letter of attorney in advance), including 3from Japan. Although Tokyo was approved as a host city of WFAS 2016 last year, we proposed changing the venue to the Tsukuba International Congress Center, which was approved.
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Executive members of the World Federation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Societies (WFAS) are elected in the general assembly (GA), which is held once every four years. In addition, member societies that will host the upcoming WFAS conferences over the next 4 years are determined in the GA. <BR>Japan hosted the 3rd World Congress of Acupuncture and Moxibustion in 1993, but has not been invited to host the WFAS annual conference for the past 20 years. In the 8 th WFAS GA held in the Sydney Convention Centre Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia on 1 November 2013, Japan was elected as the host country for the 2016 WFAS Annual Conference. Thus, the 2016 WFAS Annual Conference will be held in Tokyo, and hosted by the Japan Society of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (JSAM) and Japanese Traditional Acupuncture and Moxibustion Society (JTAMS).<BR>In the election of Executive Members, Shuichi Katai was elected as vice-president of WFAS and Ikuro Wakayama and Naoto Ishizaki were elected as executive members. The term for executive members is four years. In addition, Kiichiro Tsutani, former vice-president of WFAS, was appointed as honorable vice-president, and Yukio Kurosu, former honorable vice-president, was appointed as advisor.<BR>Academic programs were carried out for three days from 2 November 2013. In the WFAS conferences usually more than half of the papers are presented in Chinese, but in Sydney, most papers were presented in English. There were one invited lecture and 13presentations from Japan.
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The 2012 WFAS International Congress and Workshop on Acupuncture were held at Mason Pines Hotel in Bandung, Indonesia on November 16-18, 2012. The last congress held in Indonesia was in 2006 in Bali. This was the second congress held in Indonesia since the establishment of the WFAS in 1987. <BR>The number of participants in the workshop and in the congress were 109 and 260, respectively, from 24 countries. There were seven keynote lectures and 51 oral presentations, including 5 by Japanese scientists.<BR>In addition, the 4th session of the 7th Executive Committee of WFAS was held on November 16, 2012 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Mason Pines Hotel.<BR>In this report, the agenda, a discussion of the WFAS Executive Committee meeting, and an outline of the oral presentations are introduced.
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[Introduction]Insomnia and anxiety are major symptoms of depression and severely limit the daily activities of depressed patients. We report the case of a depressed patient who had developed liver dysfunction caused by medication and whose depression was successfully managed by acupuncture after discontinuation of antidepressants. <BR>[Case]A 37 years-old male had been taking noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressant (NaSSA) and Chai Fu Jia Long Gu Mu Li Tang Jia Wei Gui pi Tang for insomnia and anxiety due to depression. Although his symptoms had improved by the medication, abnormalities in his liver functions were found after 3months of medication. After he was diagnosed as having drug-induced liver damage, he was admitted to Meiji University's Integrative Medicine Hospital and all medication was replaced by Glycyrrhizin and Glutathione. Consequently his depression and symptoms returned. We then tried to relieve his symptoms by applying acupuncture, which was prescribed according to traditional Chinese medical diagnosis (TCM diagnosis, Heart Yin Deficiency , Liver Qi Stagnation , and Kidney Yin Deficiency ). <BR>[Results]After 4 acupuncture treatments, the patient's duration and depth of sleep considerably improved compared with that before the acupuncture sessions, and comparable results were maintained until discharge. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores were also markedly improved from 'moderate depression'(24 points) at the beginning of treatment to 'minimal depression'(8 points) at the end (9th treatment, 16 days from the first session).<BR>[Conclusion]The results of this case suggest that acupuncture treatment may be an effective alternative for anti-depressants when there is a limitation to administer those drugs.
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The concept of "patient's satisfaction"has become increasingly important among healthcare providers during the past decade. Acupuncture and moxibustion therapists have relatively longer contact time with patients, and a certain proportion of users of these remedies seek care for conditions that had not been satisfactorily managed with conventional care. Also, the comfortable process of the treatment is one of its beneficial characteristics. However, the characteristics and opinions of the users of acupuncture and moxibustion in Japan have long remained unclear. We have conducted a series of nation-wide surveys between 2003-2007 with grants from the Foundation for Training and Licensure Examination in Anma-Massage-Acupressure, Acupuncture and Moxibustion. The questions in these surveys included utilization rates, patient satisfaction, reasons for discontinuation, opinions on costs, and so on. The results of these surveys are provided along with some discussion in this article.
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The World Federation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Societies (WFAS) 2010 International Acupuncture Conference was held in San Francisco USA on November 6 - 7, 2010. The theme was "Acupuncture Research, Education and Clinical Practice."<BR>At the conference, the Society for Acupuncture Research (SAR), which was one of the organizers of the NIH Consensus Conference 1997, was one of the co-sponsors and also the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) presented as one of the keynote speakers. <BR>In recent years the international standardization of acupuncture related issues are moving to the forefront. WFAS is developing various standardization drafts related to acupuncture, starting with acupuncture needle regulations, which appear to be acting as a working unit of mainly Chinese ideas. WFAS has a plan to settle them as world standards through ISO, etc. However, the process of developing standard drafts does not appear democratic or fair. WFAS is indeed not democratically organized as inaccurate minutes for the executive committee meeting held at the conference contain crucial differences between the English version and the Chinese version.<BR>We need to correspond firmly to WFAS that has a formal relationship with WHO and acts high-handedly, as it leads to obstruction of fair recognition and further development of a variety of acupuncture and moxibustion medicine that has been developed in diversity in each country.
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[Objective]Acupuncture has been described to be effective for acute vomiting induced by anti-cancer drugs of chemotherapy. However, the effect of acupuncture for the prolonged acute nausea that continues more than 24 hours from its onset after chemotherapy has not been satisfactorily investigated. In the present study, we report two cases of prolonged acute nausea induced by chemotherapy and effectively treated with acupuncture and moxibustion.<BR>[Case 1] 79-year-old male who had diagnosed as early adenocarcinoma of the lung had chemotherapy by anticancer drug under hospitalization after right lower lung lobectomy. In spite of administration of anti-emetic agents, he complained of mild but persistent nausea that developed within 24 hours after chemotherapy and continued more than 24 hours from onset. Acupuncture at PC6 (Neiguwan) and ST25 (Tianshu) with moxibustion at CV12 (Zhongwan) and ST25 (Tianshu) were performed in addition to anti-emetics. <BR>[Case 2] 64-year-old female who had undergone radiation therapy by gamma knife for metastatic brain tumors of adenocarcinoma of the lung had chemotherapy by anti-cancer drug under hospitalization. Since administration of anti-emetics during the first period of chemotherapy was less effective, moxibustion at ST25 and CV12 in addition to anti-emetics was performed during the second period of chemotherapy. <BR>[Results]In both cases, the prolonged acute nausea was improved showing significant decrease in the VAS immediately after the treatment of acupuncture. <BR>[Discussion]Severe nausea and vomiting might have been suppressed by anti-emetic agents, but mild acute nausea was prolonged and persisted. Prolonged acute nausea caused poor appetite and deterioration of Quality of Life (QOL) of patients in two cases.<BR>Acupuncture with moxibustion and moxibustion could improve prolonged acute nausea and its related symptoms. These results of acupuncture with moxibustion and moxibustion suggest that acupuncture and moxibustion are useful treatment for prolonged acute nausea induced by chemotherapy and can be applied as complementary medicine to patients receiving anti-cancer chemotherapy.
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The WFAS University Cooperation Working Committee and WFAS Standard Working Committee were held during 2009 WFAS World Acupuncture Congress at European Parliament in Strasbourg, France on 6 November 2009. Publishing an International Textbook of Acupuncture and Moxibustion was proposed in the WFAS University Cooperation Working Committee. Also establishing Making WFAS standards on acupuncture needles, nomenclature and location of auricular points, manipulation of moxibustion, and manipulation of scalp acupuncture were discussed and proposed in the WFAS Standard Working Committee.
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The Fifth Session of the Sixth Executive Committee (EC), the Seventh General Assembly (GA), and the First Session of the Seventh EC and 2009 World Acupuncture Congress of the World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion societies (WFAS) were held at European parliament in Strasbourg, France on 3-7 November 2009.<BR>New EC members for the year of 2009-2013were elected in the GA. The Seventh EC commenced and now consists of 49 members. Host countries for the future meetings were also approved.<BR>In the Seventh EC, the Japan Society of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (JSAM) made a proposal regarding WFAS administrative duties. It consisted of eight items, and among them, the request for making the minutes of EC meetings was most important because WFAS EC meeting minutes have never been sent to the EC members except once, for the Bali, Indonesia meeting in 2006.<BR>Papers regarding acupuncture education, legislation, traditional research and scientific research were also presented in the academic meeting.<BR>JSAM will continue to support the enhancement of the academic level of WFAS and make any necessary proposals toward the further development of WFAS.
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Pneumonia is one of major causes of cough, which sometimes resists medication and remarkably deteriorates QOL of the patient. We report a case of pneumonia in a person suffering from severe cough and pain in the general body accompanied by cough for which conventional medication did not work but was improved by acupuncture treatment. <BR>A 47-year-old woman was diagnosed by her physician with pneumonia on August 2, 200X. Although antibiotics were administered, her symptoms were not improved. She visited Meiji University of Integrative Medicine Hospital and was hospitalized on the same day. Despite strict medication with antibiotics, antitussive agent and expectorant during hospitalization, her severe cough and body pain remained unchanged. <BR>Acupuncture treatment was then started on August 7. The basic meridian points used were LU1 (Zhongfu), LU5 (Chize), BL13(Feishu), LU7 (Leique), LI4 (Hegu), GB20 (Fengchi), GB14 (Danzhui), ST12 (Quepen), ST11 (Qishe), and CV22 (Tiantu). The acupuncture needles were retained for ten minutes at these points in each session. After ten acupuncture treatments for over seven days, the VAS for body pain accompanied by cough showed a remarkable improvement. Also, significant relief in cough was observed every time immediately after treatment. <BR>We suggested that acupuncture treatment might be useful for cough and/or pain in the body accompanied by cough in a patient with pneumonia.
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A WFAS meeting for a standard for acupuncture needles was held in Suzhou, China on September 16, 2010. A delegate from the Department of International Affairs of JSAM accompanied by three experts from an acupuncture needle manufacture (Seirin Corporation) attended the meeting with the purpose of requesting modifications of the draft. <BR>Suggestions from Japan included;(1) clearly define type of needle as 'Sterile filiform acupuncture needles for single-use', (2) not to limit the materials used for the needle body, (3) not to define upper/lower limitations in the size of the needle, (4) add some tests to guarantee safety such as limits for acidity or alkalinity and limits for extractable metals and an endotoxin test, (5) elimination of unnecessary tests regarding needles including hardness, puncture performance, strength, (6) change the term 'normative'in the quality testing method to 'informative'. <BR>According to the suggestions from Japan, modifications in the 'Scope'(defining type of needle as 'filiform') and in the 'Material'section (any kind of materials in accordance with ISO/TS 15510:2007) were annexed to the resolution. However, there is still a need to continue requesting modification of other issues to develop a better draft of the WFAS standard, which will be submitted to an ISO/TC 249 meeting in the near future.
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[Background]Functional abdominal pain syndrome (FAPS) represents a chronic pain disorder localized in the abdomen and the symptoms largely are unrelated to food intake and defecation, which differ from other painful functional gastrointestinal disorders.<BR>We report a case of FAPS whose symptom was successfully improved by acupuncture.<BR>[Case Report]A 75-year-old female had been hospitalized at Meiji University of Integrative Medicine Hospital because of left lower abdominal pain from which she had repeatedly suffered for more than 2 years. Despite strict medication, her symptom had not been improved. After admission to the hospital, according to recommendation by her physician, acupuncture treatment was started. The patient received TCM-based acupuncture treatments five times a week over 13weeks. Primary acupuncture points used for the patient were LV3(Taichong), SP6 (Sanyinjiao), ST36 (Zusanli) and PC6 (Neiguan). Evaluation of the left lower abdominal pain was carried out with a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS) was used to evaluate QOL related to the digestive symptoms. VAS for the left lower abdominal pain showed a remarkable decrease immediately after the initial acupuncture session. The symptom disappeared within 4 weeks after commencement of the treatment and never appeared during her hospitalization. GSRS was also improved and it was maintained during hospitalization.<BR>[Conclusion]We suggested that acupuncture treatment might be one of the useful, non-pharmacological alternatives for symptoms of FAPS.
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[Objective]The present study investigated the relationship between subjective symptoms of katakori (shoulder stiffness) and shoulder hardness which was examined both with clinical palpation and a mechanical device, as well as the correlation between these two measurements. <BR>[Methods]Subjects were enrolled to the study if they had a stiff shoulder on the day of the visit (katakori group, n = 60) or if they had no experience of katakori in their lifetime (non-katakori group, n = 10). The intensity of the katakori was evaluated with a visual analogue scale (VAS). Shoulder hardness was evaluated at acupoint Jianjing (GB21) and at the point where the subject felt the most intensive symptom by both palpation of experienced acupuncturists who were unaware of the allocation and a hardness meter. The method of acupuncture treatment was decided by acupuncturists who were not an evaluator of the hardness.<BR>[Results and Discussion]There was no significant relationship in the hardness measured with the device and palpation between the katakori group and non-katakori group. Also, the intensity of katakori (VAS) and the changes after treatment showed no significant correlation with the hardness and its changes. These results support the validity of our clinical experience that patients who complain of severe shoulder stiffness do not always have a hard shoulder.
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INTRODUCTION:Acupuncture has been reported to be useful for both physical and psychological symptoms. Here we report a case who complained of various physical symptoms due to advanced hepatocellular carcinoma effectively cared for with acupuncture.<BR>Case:A 64-year-old female complained of general fatigue, constipation, and pain in the lower back and leg during her hospitalization for leg edema due to advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Although the leg edema was improved by the administration of albumin, physical symptoms such as pain in the lower back and leg, constipation, or general fatigue remained. <BR>We applied acupuncture with aiming at relaxing muscles (erector spinae, rectus femoris, right adductor) by a local needling approach, and to improve incomplete defecation by applying moxibustion at the acupoint on the abdomen. <BR>METHOD:Faces Scale was used to evaluate general condition. Evaluation of the pain in the lower back and lower extremities were made with a Numerical Scale where 10 indicates the most painful, while 0 indicates no pain. <BR>RESULT:Both general fatigue and pain in the lower extremities wererelieved after acupuncture treatments (FS for general condition improved from 3to 1, NS for pain decreased from 7 to 4). Also, the feeling of incomplete defecation disappeared.