Tags：Medical and HealthKanto

On December 14th and 15th, 2024, “The 28th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Integrative Medicine(President: Hiroki Tsuruoka, Professor, Graduate School of Japan Social Work University)” was held at Light Cube Utsunomiya in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, on the theme of “The role of integrative medicine in a community-based society.” In order to deal with increasingly diverse and complex local problems, there is a need to realize a community-based society in which systems and fields such as medical care and welfare, as well as the barriers between supporters and recipients, are removed, and help each other. As a result, the event demonstrated the value of the social model of integrative medicine, which can be a community resource, such as preventive activities such as health promotion for residents, nursing care, and palliative care. Among the many lectures and symposium, officials from the clinic, which is operated in collaboration with MOA Internationaland the Medical Corporation Foundation, and researchers from the MOA Health Science Centermade presentations at the symposium and the general presentation, as well as an Okada Purifying Therapy experience workshop.

 

 

At the symposium “Creating a Community-Friendly Society with an Integrated Medical Society Model” held on the 14th, Dr. Hiroshi Katamura, Director of Tamagawakai MOA Shin-Takanawa Clinic, gave a presentation titled “A Mutual Aid Model by Integrating the Medical Model and the Social Model.” He introduced the Tokyo Wellness Center, which has been certified by the association as a facility that is responsible for both a social model that aims to improve the quality of life (QOL)of residents by a community centered on local residents, and a medical model that responds to diseases through a multidisciplinary system of medical professionals, particularly patients. He introduced suggestions for improving the lifestyle habits of patients through medical care and the Okada Health and Wellness Program, explained how patients can become healthy and obtain qualifications for the Okada Health and Wellness Program and participate as a volunteer, and how MOA Healthy Life Networks supports activities such as health promotion and food exercise to strengthen the ties and support of the community. He emphasized that the social model is a philosophy to realize a healthy and longevity society, such as making it difficult to get sick, improving quality of life, and reducing medical expenses through a community that supports each other, and said that the Tokyo Wellness Center would like to expand the mutual aid model that integrates the social model and the medical model by collaborating with the local networks.

 

In the general discussion, chaired by Kiyoshi Suzuki, Chairman of the MOA Health Science Center (a foundation), Director Katamura and Director Takaaki Suzuki of the Nasu Community Enrichment Plaza(a facility certified as a social model) took the stage to discuss the importance of regional cooperation to promote the social model.
(→Click here for the article on certification as a “social model” at the Tokyo Wellness Center)

 

 

At the symposium “Direction of Academic Research” on the same day, Chairman Kiyoshi Suzuki gave a presentation titled “The Difficulty of Researching Psychosomatic Therapy and Its Significance” as one of the speakers. He explained that it is necessary to prove the effectiveness of psychosomatic therapy such as energy therapy, art therapy, and yoga beyond the psychological effect, but it is difficult to prove the effectiveness and superiority of the placebo effect in a comparative control group alone. He said that it is also effective to promote therapeutic effects on intractable diseases and research on many participants. As an example of research on Okada Purifying Therapy, he shared an experiment in which the brain waves were significantly changed when Purifying Therapy was performed from the back so that the recipient would not know, a clinical study in which patients with SS anemia (sickle red blood cell anemia) who received Purifying Therapy for one year in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa had pain attacks and the number of hospitalizations decreased, and an analysis of a large-scale questionnaire survey of 60,000 Japanese people. Chairman Suzuki took the stage at the general discussion after the presentation to exchange opinions on the ideal form of academic research, and told the audience who were interested in Purifying Therapy that the workshop would be held on the following day, the 15th.

 

 

Okada Purifying Therapy Workshop

 

On the 15th, an Okada Purifying Therapy experience workshop was held, and about 40 people, including doctors, acupuncturist, and yoga instructors, participated in the two experiences. First, Associate Nurse Kenyuki Tomishima of Tamagawakai MOA Oku-Atami Clinic, a collaborator certified by the Japan Society of Integrative Medicine, introduced Purifying Therapy as energy therapy, and explained the qualification system certified by MOA International and volunteer therapists at the clinic. A therapist conducted a demonstration of exploration and treatment.

 

 

Next, those who wished to receive Purifying Therapy from a therapist. After the exploration, they narrowed down the points to their shoulders and hips and received Purifying Therapy, and some were seen eagerly asking questions as they realized the change in their physical condition. Medical professionals who experienced the experience commented, “I half-believed in a health method that did not touch my body, but even though I had my shoulders done, it warmed up to my waist and made me feel like I was in a bath,” and “My shoulder felt better, but my shoulder on the other side became stiff, so I had the therapist work on my other shoulder as well. I was taught that it may affect the area that has not been treated on the left and right, and it was even more interesting,” and some people wanted to practice Purifying Therapy themselves, so they wanted to take a beginner’s course.

 

 

MOA officials present at the general presentation

 

At this conference, six MOA officials made poster presentations as general abstracts. While the social model of integrative medicine is attracting attention because it is believed that relationships and connections between people affect health, Hiroko Tanji, a social worker at MOA International, gave a presentation on “The significance of the “MOA Healthy Life Network Training” in a community-based society – the practice of linking integrative medicine facilities with the local community (MOA Healthy Life Network).” She said that as a result of the training to foster human resources in the MOA Healthy Life Network, which is building healthy people both mentally and physically in each region, and to promote the improvement of supportive relationships, they have been able to cultivate relationships that enhance each other, and the momentum of volunteer participation has increased, which has led to the creation of a community-friendly mind.

 

 

Toshiya Mayumi, a staff member at the same MOA International, presented an example of an initiative in which a social model was useful to care for home medical care, titled “Efforts of a social model in collaboration with a medical model of integrative medicine in a community-based society – through the care of patients with end-of-life cancer at home.” For women in their 50s with pancreatic head cancer, a member of the MOA Healthy Life Network, which works with Nagoya Wellness Center, said that women spent a limited amount of time with joy and gratitude while providing care with the Okada Health and Wellness Program, and reported that the existence of human relationships that care for each other and the social model lead to better care, and that there is a possibility of supporting needs that cannot be reached with current home care alone.

 

Hiromi Nakagawa, a registered dietitian at the Gyokusenkai Kanazawa Clinic, reported on “integrated medical care provided in conjunction with cooking support in the Noto Peninsula earthquake.” In collaboration with the MOA Healthy Life Network and the Hokuriku branch of the MOA Nature Farming Culture FoundationMOA Nature Farming Culture Foundation, they continued to visit families affected by the disaster, provide mental health care using circle flowers at evacuation centers, and provide cooking support, and together with registered dietitians and chefs from Kanazawa, Tokyo, and the Hiroshima Wellness Centers they provided cooking at elementary schools in Nanao City and junior high schools in Suzu City, which are evacuation centers, and reported that they were delighted. In particular, she said that the provision of cafes could lead to a model of communities that create communication and provide mutual support and not one-way support, and that the face-to-face ties of the health and living networks that operate on a daily basis have demonstrated their power in disaster support.
(→Click here for the article on the Noto Peninsula disaster-affected area support activities)

 

In addition, presentations were made by MOA officials Seiya Uchida, senior researcher at the MOA Health Science Center, on “evaluation of healing in complementary alternative medicine using the Nichigei version of “healing” evaluation scale and its involvement in the degree of healing and muscle stiffness of the shoulders”; Yasuyo Kanda, nurse at the MOA Takanawa Clinic, “report on nursing practice using the “care review memo” at an integrative medicine facility”; and Tomohiro Sato, instructor of Purifying Therapy at the MOA International Tokyo Wellness Center, “preliminary study on efforts to promote self-care using Shisei Karte (posture and movement analysis using AI)”, and many people attended the event.

 

At the two-day conference, the president gave a lecture entitled “Role of integrative medicine in a community-based society – From a community-based comprehensive care system to a community-based society,” as well as a symposium entitled “Disaster medicine and integrative medicine: Disaster prevention and integrative medicine in a community-based society,” and “Multidisciplinary cooperation in the community.” As a related event on the 16th, after the conference, those who wished to do so visited Nasu Machizukuri Hiroba, a facility certified as a social model.

 

 

Organized by: The 28th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Integrative Medicine

 

※ The name of the organization to which the presenter belongs is the same as the collection of academic conference transcripts.