World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion Societies Annual Symposium, London Heathrow, 11-13 October 2024
This was my second time to attend a World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion Societies (WAFS) annual conference, having attended the conference in Paris in 2018. It is certainly a good conference to attend. It provides an opportunity to meet those who work in institutions such as the World Health Organisation and the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (CACMS). There was a dizzying variety of presentations. I felt that the conference went very well, I would like to thank the ATCM and BMAS for their hard work. There was certainly a very good atmosphere with a sense of everybody wanting to come together to promote acupuncture. As is often the case with conferences, it was nice to see some familiar faces. I found myself giving my presentation during the same session as Wang Tianjun. Tianjun gave an interesting talk on scalp acupuncture.
The Blue Book on Acupuncture Clinical Research Evidence
One of the keynote speakers was Liu Baoyan, President of WFAS. Prof Liu introduced the “Blue Book on Acupuncture Clinical Research Evidence (2015 to 2024)”. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t pick up a copy at the conference. However, the book contains 52 papers that have been published in high ranked journals. The amount of research conducted in China far outweighs that which is done in any other country. But this does not necessarily equate to influence. Arguably, the clinical research conducted in Germany has been more influential in the West than any trials conducted in China. Nevertheless, I welcome the objective of the Blue Book. It surely must be a good thing if research on acupuncture is presented in these globally recognised publications.
The concept of placebo must go
I think we also must bear in mind, the very notion of “highly ranked journals” can imply an acceptance of academic hierarchy, power structures, and ultimately acceptance of mainstream ideas. What could be a more problematic mainstream idea than the placebo-controlled trial. I was very pleased to be given the opportunity to speak at the conference. My talk was on placebo, similar to the one that I gave at the ARRC conference in 2023. The more I think about placebo the more I realise it is a concept that will eventually have to go. Placebo is so deeply embedded as the gold standard measure for healthcare it’s going to take a long time before that day arrives. If I get the time, I will write an article and send it off to high ranked journal. I’m not sure they will be ready for it!
A couple of other talks that stood out for me were:
Acupuncture for hand-foot syndrome
Hsu Chin-Chia from Taiwan presented a case study of someone who had severe hand-foot syndrome induced by capecitabine. Hand-foot syndrome is a common side-effect of some types of chemotherapy. The person suffers from redness pain and discomfort of the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. In severe cases the skin can blister and peel. The images of the hands and feet graphically illustrated what a painful and distressing side effect this can be. A Chinese herbal decoction was also used but acupuncture was considered the primary means of treatment to combat this side effect. There was significant improvement. This was a welcome reminder as to how varied the potential uses of acupuncture can be. If someone is unable to continue with the chemotherapy this can significantly reduce their life expectancy. In addition, the quality of life is clearly going to be much better without the debilitating blisters on the soles of your feet.
Acupuncture in the absence of placebo?
I really enjoyed the presentation by Duncan Lawler Vice President of BMAS. This was on also on placebo. Duncan discussed cases where the patients had dementia. As a result, they were not aware of the symbolic nature of the treatment or even able to remember that they had just had acupuncture. Providing acupuncture in these circumstances does raise significant challenges regarding informed consent. However, as the people showed significant improvement it did provide food for thought regarding the mechanisms of the so-called placebo effect.
Save the date
Next year WFAS will be on 19-20tSeptember 2025 in Stockholm, Sweden, which is not too far away. So, if you are interested it might be a good opportunity to go.
