Meeting Report
The 31st International Meeting of Physical Therapy Science: Web Edition
The 31st International Meeting of Physical Therapy Science was held via the internet on November 22, 2020. The meeting could not be held as scheduled in July, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the main theme of the rescheduled meeting was changed to the medical and educational environment of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cause of the meeting's postponement. The revised theme of the congress was: “The educational and medical environment in the COVID-19 pandemic”. This meeting was hosted by the International Conference of the Korean Institute of Integrative Medicine. The chairperson of the participants in Japan was Dr. Hitoshi Maruyama, and the chairperson of the participants in South Korea was Dr. KeonCheol Lee, the president of Korean Society of Integrative Medicine. The main venue was South Korea.
This academic conference took place utilizing the internet to prevent the spread of COVID-19 through movement and assembly. Special lectures and oral presentations were given using the Zoom conference system, and poster presentations were made using the YouTube video site. There were participants from six countries: South Korea, Japan, China, Mongolia, Myanmar, and Canada. The occupations of the participants included many medical professions.
The Society of Physical Therapy Science gave 3 special lectures, 5 oral presentations, and 17 poster presentations. The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine, gave 10 oral presentations and 38 poster presentations.
In his closing remarks, Dr. Maruyama expressed the hopes that the COVID-19 pandemic would be over, and that the conference would take place normally in South Korea next year.
HeonSoo Han, PhD
Department of Physical Therapy
International University of Health and Welfare, Japan