On the 23th of March the Acupuncture Research Resouce Centre symposium (ARRC) was organised in London, with the support of the British Acupuncture Council.
The ETCMA was represented by John Jaarsveld, Head of Research.
Amoung the speakers were:
Weidong Lu of the Harvard Cancer Hospital, about the newly developing specialisation Oncological Acupuncture. (OA). Several articles have been published by scientific journals like the JAMA about Oncological Acupuncture, and this has been integrated in usual care at Harvard Medical. It is seen as a specialised field, which utilises a strict evidence based approach. The cancer patient it treated by the team as a whole, and the acupuncturist must be wiling to be part of this team effort.
Siiri Hedlund & Kajsa Landgren spoke about ear acupuncture, and specifically the NADA protocol, in psychiatry such as for anorexic patients.
John Jaarsveld held a speech about the different stages that science goes through in time. Not every stage is the same, and not every stage requires the same response. As the Y Jing teaches us to assess the situation and formulate an appropriate response, so should the context history be taken into account when assessing the opportunities and challenges for inquiry into healthcare solutions.
Carlo Maria Giovanardi spoke about acupuncture for peripheral neuropathy due to chemotherapy, Nicola Robinson about her excellent results in treating stroke patients with acupuncture. Her experience was that not only the results were good but also that the reception of acupuncture, by patients as well as doctors and physical therapists, are much better than the acupuncturists expected.
Norma Rodgers of London South Bank University spoke about a retrospectieve studie that she is working on in a fertility clinic, to see if acupuncture really increases the chances of pregnancy.
And lastely, Cinzia Scorzon of Westminster University spoke about acupuncture versus cognitive therapy in generalised anxiety.
All in all a very well organised and fruitful conference. A lot of high quality scientific research is being done, much more than many people expect.
(2) https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2687355
