2023 Conference

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS (SIGS)

Thursday, May 18, 2023 (1:30pm - 3:00pm)

Participating in SAR SIGs beyond the conference is only available to SAR members, so if you are currently not a member, you can join at: www.acupunctureresearch.org/membership. We welcome both members and non-members to participate and collaborate DURING the conference!

Clinical Research SIG

Participating in the Clinical Research SIG offers a platform to advocate, evaluate and disseminate clinical research in acupuncture. It provides opportunities to gleam the current literature to write a highlight about new articles in acupuncture clinical research, which would be published in SAR’s monthly newsletter.

We welcome discussions from group members about what you want to accomplish together – formulating ideas using a “bottom-up” approach to the group.

Basic Science Research SIG

SAR’s Basic Science Special Interest Group (SIG) was set up to bring together a group of SAR members that have a special interest in exploring basic scientific research evaluations of the mechanistic effects of acupuncture. Typical studies evaluated include clinical assessments incorporating biomechanistic outcomes, as well as research in animal models that explore needling and moxibustion effects; of which examples are published bi-monthly in the ‘SAR News Wire’. This ‘bottom-up’ research approach has the potential to provide quantifiable, and scientifically validated evidence to support the benefits of acupuncture, in a format that is understandable to the integrative health research community.

Why is this important? As clinicians, educators, researchers and allied health professionals, we’ve all been asked those difficult questions… “so does acupuncture really work?”, and “how does acupuncture work exactly”? Whilst these questions are still difficult to answer, more and more, basic scientific evaluations are providing additional evidence to support a broad range of potential beneficial effects to numerous bodily systems, including the neuro-immuno-endocrine system. By having knowledge of the outcomes of these evaluations, not only does it provide us with a better ability to more accurately answer these questions, it also has the potential to further elevate the international standing of acupuncture.

What are our aims moving forward? At the upcoming conference, we wish to reengage existing members, as well as attract new members, in order to discuss ideas around the potential aims and directions of the group moving forward. Possibilities for consideration include: regular bi-monthly get togethers to share findings from research articles of interest; collaboration on projects such as the setting up of a database of point specific effects, and the collation of mechanistic findings with respect to TEAM pattern differentiation and disease classifications. Other ideas are however also actively encouraged!

Hospital-Based Acupuncture SIG

The Hospital-Based Acupuncture SIG was created to support acupuncturists working in a hospital-based environment and interested in an evidence-based approach to practice.  We will use the time during the conference to revisit and update priorities identified at our initial meeting, set structures for ongoing engagement, and identify those members interested in a leadership role.

Dissemination & Implementation SIG

The goal of the Dissemination & Implementation SIG is for members to discuss ways of promoting acupuncture and TEAM research as widely as possible, as well as suggesting approaches for how to implement those findings in ways that work in different professional settings (hospitals, acupuncture clinics, etc.) so that ultimately, patients benefit. 

Identifying obstacles and challenges would be part of the process, and creatively thinking about how to overcome those challenges.  For the majority of acupuncture and TEAM research being done, it is not promoted or utilized widely enough for substantial impact, and therefore the gap between research and practice needs to be bridged in order to reach the community level.    We imagine this SIG collaborating with other SIGs for this purpose.

Education SIG

SAR’s Special Interest Group for Educators (SAR SIG-Edu) is a group of acupuncturists, professors and researchers that formed at the SAR symposium in June 2019, with the goal of improving the teaching of research skills in general and acupuncture research in particular to East Asian Medicine (EAM) students. Research skills and knowledge are becoming increasingly necessary as the profession moves towards integration with mainstream medicine and more practitioners choose to work in collaboration with other allied health professions. In the four years since that meeting, our group has created a survey to assess EAM students’ attitudes towards research and a model research curriculum, with an introductory slideshow on the history and evolution of acupuncture research. Both of these projects were presented in a poster at the 2021 SAR Symposium. Our motto could be “teachers talking to teachers.” We are hopeful that this collaboration of EAM schools can expand in the future and we welcome your participation.