Thursday, May 13

8:30 to 9:30am – Helene Langevin will present a keynote address:

Connective Tissue Physiology and Its Relevance to Manual Therapies.
Connective tissue is increasingly recognized as playing an important role in musculoskeletal dynamics and chronic pain mechanisms. This talk will summarize recent research on connective tissue structure and responsiveness to tissue stretch with particular relevance to human low back pain.

2:00 to 5:00pm – Robert Davis will participate in a Breakout Session entitled:
Massage Therapy Research and the Musculoskeletal System

He will give a 30 minute talk entitled, “Left/Right Differences in Connective Tissue of the Legs as Measured by Needle Torque.”

Friday, May 14

Helene Langevin will participate in a panel discussion:

Translational Research Panel
This session will focus principally on the nature and scope of translational research (TR) as well as the implications for researchers, practitioners, and educators in the massage and bodywork professions.

“Translational Research in Acupuncture: Bridging Science, Practice and Community”
Chapel Hill, NC

Stromatec will have a table at the conference staffed by Narendra Vaidya and Chelsea Charbonneau featuring the Acusensor2 acupuncture needling sensor system. Visitors will be able to experiment “hands-on” with the Acusensor2. We will encourage attendees to use the Acusensor2 to take “snapshots” of their favorite needling techniques. A “scrapbook” including these measurements will be compiled and distributed to participants after the conference.

Stromatec founders Robert Davis and Helene Langevin will be presenting several times during the conference. Check out their presentations as follows:

Thursday, March 18

9am to noon – Robert Davis will be a co-presenter in a Pre-Conference workshop entitled “Acupuncture Under Attack: How Do We Respond Using the Current Evidence Base?”

Friday, March 19

10am to noon – Helene Langevin will participate in a symposium entitled, “From mechanisms to outcomes: Understanding the effects of acupuncture treatment components”. Her portion of the symposium is entitled, “Connective tissue link to musculoskeletal pain pathophysiology: relevance to translational acupuncture research”.

Saturday, March 20

4:00 to 6:00 pm – Helene Langevin will give a 10 minute oral presentation entitled, “Measurement of thoracolumbar connective tissue shear plane motion during whole trunk flexion and robotic acupuncture using ultrasound elastography”.

Sunday, March 21

8:30am to noon – Robert Davis will host an interactive workshop entitled, “A Field Guide to Translational Tools.” During this session, Helene Langevin will give a 10 minute talk entitled “Ultrasound imaging – Real-time Visualization of Needle/Tissue Interaction During Needle Insertion and Manipulation.” Robert Davis will give a 10 minute talk entitled, “Acusensor – Real-time Quantification of Acupuncture Needling Manipulations.”

10:15 to 11:30am – Davis and Langevin will be demonstrating the Acusensor and ultrasound technologies during the “hands-on” interactive session entitled, “Hold Me, Touch Me, Use Me.”

For SAR conference program information, see:
http://www.acupunctureresearch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=56

Stromatec’s research and engineering teams visited the New England School of Acupuncture (NESA) in Newton, MA conducting the first field tests of the Acusensor2 acupuncture needling force and motion sensor system. We’re pleased to report that the system performed well with no major technical problems. Seven experienced acupuncturists and instructors, along with 13 NESA students and about two dozen volunteer subjects participated in the tests over two days. In addition to evaluating the overall performance of the Acusensor2 system, data was collected to assess the utility of the system as a tool for acupuncture needling instructors and researchers.

One of the most striking observations during the event was the notable differences in needling techniques. The charts below illustrate.

TCM “tonification” Liver 3	Japanese “tonification” Liver 3
Japanese “sedation” Spleen 9	TCM “tonification” Stomach 36