At the 74th Annual Congress of the Japan Society of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (JSAM), held in Nagoya from May 30 to June 1, 2025, three major international events took place: the Japan-Korea-Taiwan Symposium, an international session on electronic medical records (EMR), and the signing of an academic cooperation agreement between JSAM and the Chinese Medical Association of Acupuncture (CMAA), Taiwan. The tri-national symposium, themed “Acupuncture and Moxibustion for Women's Health through Femcare,” highlighted clinical applications, evidence-based guidelines, and case studies from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, emphasizing the role of acupuncture in supporting women's health. In the EMR session, experts from Japan and Korea presented on the current status, challenges, and prospects of digitizing oriental medical records, underlining the importance of standardization and interoperability. The academic agreement with CMAA is expected to promote collaborative research, academic exchange, and development in acupuncture and moxibustion education and clinical safety. This report summarizes the key content and outcomes of these initiatives.

The 37th ICMART World Congress on Medical Acupuncture (ICMART) was held on Jeju Island, South Korea, from September 27 to 29, 2024. The theme of the congress was "Future of Integrative Healthcare, Convergence of Acupuncture, Medical Science, and Technology," and the event was organized by the Society of Korean Medicine (SKOM), which officially became a member of ICMART in 2019. During the ICMART General Assembly on September 28, 2024, the formal membership of our society was officially approved. This article provides an overview of the process leading to our society's membership in ICMART, and the proceedings of the ICMART General Assembly. It also summarizes the ICMART 2024 Congress and highlights a joint session between our society and the Korean Acupuncture & Moxibustion Medicine Society (KAMMS) focusing on facial nerve paralysis.

The Annual Meeting of the World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion Societies (WFAS) was held in London, UK, from October 11 to 13, 2024. The conference, themed "Acupuncture Research and Clinical Applications," brought together experts from around the world to discuss advancements in basic and clinical research related to acupuncture and moxibustion treatment. Additionally, the WFAS Executive Committee presented the 2024 activity report and key plans for 2025, while deliberating on new proposals. Furthermore, the academic conference featured keynote speeches, oral presentation, and poster presentations that exhibited research findings demonstrating the potential applications of acupuncture in various medical conditions. This report provides an overview of the　10th Executive Committee Meeting and the academic conference highlights.

In 2021, the Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) for the Management of Chronic Pain was published, and included a section on acupuncture treatment for integrated medicine and chronic headaches. The purpose of this symposium was to discuss the current understanding of the evidence for acupuncture treatment for chronic pain and the expansion of guidelines. As a working group member of the CPG, Dr. Namba Toshimune introduced the process of including acupuncture in the CPG and discussed not only each field of specialty but also the outlook for developing unique CPG for acupuncture. Dr. Kubo presented the status of basic research on acupuncture treatment for pain in recent years, introduced about the effects of acupuncture stimulation on adenosine, orexin, and oxytocin in mice and rats, as well as the specific reactions of acupuncture points to acupuncture stimulation, and emphasized the importance of basic research to establish the effectiveness of acupuncture for chronic pain. Dr. Udo Yukihiro provided a detailed review of clinical research on acupuncture treatment for chronic pain, reporting on the current status of acupuncture treatment methods, stimulation sites, and stimulation methods. Minakawa described the current situation where systematic education for acupuncturists has not been sufficiently implemented and discussed their own acupuncture treatments for patients with chronic pain. We hope that the contents of this symposium will be helpful in clinical practice, research, and education.

[Objective] Premature ventricular contraction (PVC) causes arrhythmia, and it most frequently occurs in healthy individuals. It has been recently reported that a combination of medical therapy and acupuncture has an effect on arrhythmia. Herein, we report on the use of acupuncture in a patient with PVC.[Case] A 41-year-old male complained of arrhythmia and stiff shoulders. According to the Lown grading system, he was diagnosed with a grade 1 condition using Holter monitor in a hospital for internal diseases. Acupuncture was applied for decreasing the PVC count and discomfort in the chest region.[Methods] Acupuncture was applied at points PC6, BL15, HT7, ST36, GV20, CV17, and KI3. Manipulation involved twirling the stemless needle (30 mm in length, 0.20 mm in diameter) at a low amplitude and high frequency, and the needle was then retained for 10 min. The treatment was applied twice a day for four weeks. Measurements were obtained using a visual analog scale, SF-36v2, and Holter monitor.[Results] After four weeks of treatment, discomfort in the chest region decreased and quality of life improved. Additionally, the PVC count decreased after two weeks of treatment.[Conclusion] Our findings suggest that acupuncture is effective for treatment of PVC.

[Background] Presenteeism, defined as the practice of sick workers who come to work, and whose work performance effectiveness has been reduced due to various signs and symptoms, causes a significant financial loss to companies. However, comprehensive and effective occupational health countermeasures have not yet been presented. Therefore, we report here the results of an interim analysis to determine whether an allowance for acupuncture treatment is beneficial for workers' presenteeism. [Methods] A four-week randomized intergroup comparative study was conducted on office workers who were aware of their presenteeism. Participants were allocated to either the control group, in which regular recommended presenteeism countermeasures for each workplace were implemented arbitrarily, or to the intervention group in which an allowance of up to 8,000 was given for acupuncture treatment, in addition to the usual arbitrary measures. The primary endpoint was the WHO-HPQ relative presenteeism score: a score lower than 1 indicates lower work performance; and it was analyzed with the "full analysis set" population.[Results] A total of 52 patients were assigned to the intervention group (n = 30) and the control group (n = 22). On average, the intervention group received acupuncture treatments 1.4 times for stiff neck and shoulders (67%), lower back pain (26%), depression (5%), and allergies (2%), and paid a total of 7,219; and 6,556 was paid as an expense allowance. As a result, the relative presenteeism score was 0.95 in the intervention group, compared to 0.91 in the control group, with a between-group difference of 0.04 (ES (r) = 0.22, P = 0.12).[Conclusions] With a total of up to 8,000 offered to office workers who were aware of their presenteeism, an acupuncture treatment allowance for a four-week period was provided 1.4 times on average. The results suggested that the treatment allowance would increase workers' performance efficiency by about 4% (equivalent to 19,691 per person) compared to those without it.

[Objective]Acupuncture has been reported to be useful for temporomandibular disorders. There have been many reports on muscle problems in temporomandibular disorders (TMD) but only a few reports on disc problems. We report on the use of acupuncture in a temporomandibular disorder patient with disc disorders.
[Case]A 19-year-old female complained of pain upon opening her mouth and trismus. We applied acupuncture with the aim of resolving the disc problems and providing analgesia by a contributing muscle needling approach.
[Methods]The following were measured:intensity of jaw pain, anxiety and satisfaction (visual analogue scale:VAS), position and form of disc and caput mandibulae (MRI) and presence of jaw deviation.
[Results]The following were improved after acupuncture treatments:intensity of jaw pain, anxiety and satisfaction, limitation of jaw movement and jaw deviation. However, the positions of the discs did not change.
[Conclusion]These results suggest that acupuncture may be effective for temporomandibular disorder patients with disc disorders.