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Hi. My Physio would like to ‘launch’ our blog with a topic that has been the ‘BUZZZzzzzzzz’ among the physio ‘family’ globally for the past couple of weeks…the WCPT Congress! Some of my fellow colleagues had the opportunity to participate in this exciting event. So we would like to share some personal thoughts to this. Before they begin, I would like to give some background information of the WCPT.

What is WCPT?


The World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) was founded in 1951. The World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) is an international voice for physical therapy, representing more than 350,000 physical therapists worldwide through its 106 member organizations. The confederation operates as a non-profit organization and is registered as a charity in the UK.

WCPT believes that every individual is entitled to the highest possible standard of culturally appropriate healthcare delivered in an atmosphere of trust and respect for human dignity, and underpinned by sound clinical reasoning and scientific evidence. It is committed to furthering the physical therapy profession and improving global health through: 
  • encouraging high standards of physical therapy research, education and practice 
  • supporting the exchange of information between WCPT regions and member organizations 
  • collaborating with national and international organizations 

Vision


WCPT's vision is to move physical therapy forward so the profession is recognized globally for its significant role in improving health and wellbeing.

Mission


WCPT's mission is to:
  • unite the profession internationally; 
  • represent physical therapy and physical therapists internationally; 
  • promote high standards of physical therapy practice, education and research; 
  • facilitate communication and information exchange among member organizations, regions, subgroups and their members; 
  • collaborate with national and international organizations; 
  • contribute to the improvement of global health. 

WCPT has held 15 world congresses since its establishment. It is held every four years. This year’s world congress was held in Singapore from 1st-4th May 2015. WCPT will be holding congresses more frequently under plans designed to make this event more accessible to all the Confederation’s members. WCPT’s Executive Committee is making this announcement after two years of study. The Executive Committee believes that a two-year interval between congresses will enable today’s Confederation to better fulfill its objectives, serve its member organizations and move the profession forward globally. The next congress will be held in 2017 in Cape Town.


Jacinta Lee

*Information taken from http://www.wcpt.org



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My Journey to my 1st WCPT Congress 2015.


My journey began one day in July when my boss asked me if I had a passport…I was surprised and replied no. That was the start of my exciting opportunity to quite a few FIRST TIME experiences for me. I would be going out of Malaysia for the 1st time, being in an aeroplane for the 1st time….and attending an international gathering of Physiotherapists (WCPT) for the 1st time! I recall…I was excited yet a little nervous as all these were such new experiences for me. I was glad Ms Lim (my boss) would be going along with me. I wanted to be as prepared as I could be for the WCPT, so after confirming the pre-conference workshop I would be attending, I discussed with Ms Lim & Ms Lee (my senior colleague) on the topics to read through before going.

He!re we are at suntec City Singapore for the WCPT Congress 2015 


The WCPT was held at Suntec Convention Centre in Singapore from the 1st - 5th of May. It was a good experience and exposure for me. The pre-course that I attended on the1stof May was located at Nanyang Polytechnic, in Ang Mo Kio Ave 8, Singapore. It was entitled: “Acute and Chronic Pain Management: Evidence-Based Role of Electrophysical Agents. There were four speakers who presented their researches and other current researchs regarding the topic. In this course, we got to know the latest evidence of all the electrophysical agents that we used to treat our patients. As I listened to them, I realised that they were talking from their very wide range of patient experiences and could tell us the benefits they saw with their patient outcomes. I remember thinking to myself that I would like to have the same opportunity like them in my own career journey and see my patients benefit from my treatment services.


Great opportunity to meet friends of Clare Frank-Michael & Marshall

Great privilege to meet Phil Page at the Theraband booth,... another friend of Clare Frank.

On Saturday, I attended the conference that was located at Suntec Convention Centre. This convention centre is just two stations from my hotel and it is attached to the city hall shopping complex. During this conference, there were a lot of research presentations and talks on various topics.I managed to see research presentations on topics like stroke, musculoskeletal and falls among older people. There were also a lot of poster presentations and viewing. At the same area of poster viewing, there were also a lot of booths that showed the current technology and products for physical therapy. I must say…there really was just too much information for me to chew on in ONE day! I decided to take as much pictures and flyers related to my area of interest so that I could discuss these with my team in My Physio and learn together.



Night scene in Singapore

I am very happy and feel grateful to get this opportunity to be part of WCPT world congress 2015 in Singapore.


Nurul Azwa



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Chronic Pain: Physical Therapy Targeting Mind, Body and Brain (WCPT 2015 Post-conference).


I am glad for the learning experience in the Chronic Pain Post-conference during the World Confederation for Physical therapy (WCPT) World Congress 2015 in Singapore. It was an informative course and a very relevant topic for me. 

Jo, Mira and Kelly were very inspiring speakers in this course. During the course, they shared their numerous research findingsand their rich experiences to us. 

I learnt how important it is for physical therapists to diagnose the different types of chronic pain accurately with assessment and to prescribe the right treatment strategy to the patient.

I am so glad that I am able to further understand and differentiate nociceptive, neuropathic and central sensitization pain now. Thanks to Jo, Mira and Kelly.

I am eager to implement the concept of Central Sensitization Pain for some of my treatment strategies of my patients. I noticed that a few of my patients’ pain symptoms hardly improved despite the recovery of their actual tissue injury or the elimination of the mechanism deficits.

Disproportionate pains, diffuse pain distribution, hypersensitivity to a certain sense are all indications of possibility of central sensitization. I am confident that I will be able to achieve a better outcome with this new understanding. I will now start to perform neurophysiological pain tests and conduct pain education classes for my patients.

I am looking forward to attend the 2017 WCPT Congress in Cape Town to keep myself with more current updates to better treat my patients. Hopefully, I will be able to meet Jo, Mira and Kelly again.


Harold Lock


Taking in the beautiful night scene during my stay in Singapore