WCPT Report
The World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) represents the worldwide
voice of physical therapy. It has 106 member organisations and represents 350,000
physical therapists across the globe. Every 4 years the WCPT hosts a world
congress at which physical therapists from around the globe gather to present
research and discuss matters relating to practice and education.
The WCPT congress for 2015 was held in Singapore on May 1 st – 4th. In June of
2014 I had responded to the invitation to submit papers for presentation at WCPT
and was very pleased to be accepted to present two research projects by poster
presentation. Once accepted you enter a submission process to ensure that all work
to be presented follow the required format much like that involved in submitting an
article for publication in a journal. The final version of the poster is then submitted to
WCPT to be included in the congress proceedings when they are published on line.
All that then remains to be done is to produce a hard copy version of the poster at A0
size. I have presented posters at international conferences before and found that
transporting A0 size laminated posters can be problematic. Fortunately it is now
possible to produce a linen version which folds easily to A4 size and when unfolded
is crease free and produces a high quality non-gloss image. I would advise anybody
who is planning on producing a poster to look at the linen versions which although
slightly more expensive are a much better product. About a month before the event
presenters are advised as to when they will be presenting their research and given
details of when the poster will be on display. This year at WCPT each poster was on
display in the poster hall for one whole day and the author is available by their poster
to answer questions and discuss the research for a 45 minute period at mid-day
when there are no platform presentations being delivered.
The WCPT event itself begins with a lavish opening ceremony held in a large
auditorium in the conference centre. There was entertainment in the form of Dragon
dances and performances of local culture which were fascinating and highly
professional.
Then followed speeches by the WCPT Chair Marilyn Moffat and other members of
the organising committee, a welcome by the Minister for Health and key note
addresses by Prof Goh Ah-Cheng and Aimee Stewart who is the chair for the
International Scientific Committee. The opening ceremony did over run a
tad….actually an hour, and by the time it was over all attending delegates were
ready for the drinks reception and buffet which was held in the main exhibitors hall.
All delegates wear id badges with their names and country of origin which is helpful
when circulating and networking. It was intriguing to be able to chat to delegates
from all around the world who have a common interest in physical therapy. From a
University prospective this was very useful as we are looking to develop links with
international providers of Physiotherapy education to develop on-line learning
opportunities for our under and post graduate students.
Coventry University, for whom I represent, had an exhibition stand at WCPT for the
first time this year and following the overwhelming success of this stand I am sure it
will be a feature at all WCPT events in the future.
The stand was ably
manned by Staff
from the university
who
were
also
attending to present
research at WCPT.
The main drive was
to
raise
the
international profile
of
Coventry
University and to
publicise
the
Physiotherapy MSc
courses that we
offer. We had taken
several
hundred
memory sticks with
course details embedded and reams of course leaflets thinking that these would be
sufficient but sadly not as we ran out of each by lunch time on the last day.
Fortunately we also had some flyers for potential MSc students to complete with their
details so we could send information to them upon our return to the UK. Our
marketing department are processing piles of these requests at present.
I presented my research posters on the Saturday and Monday of the congress and
am pleased to say that they were both well received and generated some useful
debate and interesting questions.
The first poster “An investigation into
the resistance offered by different
grades of Theraband™” attracted a
lot of interest from therapist who use
exercise bands on a regular basis
and were interested in the actual
muscle activation demand that
different grades of band produced.
The second poster entitled “An
investigation mapping cryotherapy
induced analgesia” generated lots of
interest and debate as it presented
data detailing a very narrow period of cryotherapy induced analgesia which
contradicts anecdotal beliefs. Following both presentations I was able to have
discussions with representatives from Physiotherapy courses in the USA and
Australia about taking both projects forward and I am hoping to develop these
collaborations in the months to come.
When not presenting my posters or manning the Coventry University stand there
was an opportunity to view the other exhibition stands and attend platform
presentation in the many side halls at the conference centre.
Viewing the exhibitions stands was very productive as exhibitors were keen to
demonstrate their products and I came away with several excellent contacts and
possibilities for future research. One company has produced an exercise band that is
designed specifically for use in a hydrotherapy pool. I understand that standard latex
type bands degrade in the hydro-chlorine rich environment whereas this new band
does not. I have arranged for some of this new product to be shipped to me and I will
be looking for possible collaboration with clinical colleagues with Hydro pools who
may wish to develop some research and testing of this product. My contact details
are at the end of this report should you be interested in taking this further.
Attending the platform presentations
is a logistical challenge indeed and
there are many presentations going
on at the same time in sessions of
five 12 minute presentation followed
by a small break.
The challenge is to plan your route
around the halls so you can dip into
the talks you would like to attend in
the most efficient way. It is a little like
watching TV, on some occasions
there are 3 programmes on at the same time that you would like to watch then a gap
of an hour where nothing takes your fancy. Unfortunately at WCPT it is all live with
no hard-drive box to record events that you could not attend. Fortunately however,
WCPT do provide an audio recording of all platform presentations on DVD at the end
of the congress for reference. In addition to the posters and platform presentations
there are Focused Symposia, Expert Panel Debates, Net-working sessions and for
the first time researches and attendees some “How to…seminars” to help delegates
gain expertise in aspects of physical therapist practice, research, education and
management.
The Focused symposia are seen as central to the congress programme. They are
one-and-a-half-hour sessions led by a convenor who is a recognised authority in
their field. The convenor leads a team of presenters, from at least three WCPT
regions, through a series of linked presentations on a topic. There is then a
discussion period with the audience. At the end, the convenor gives some insight
into the implications and future directions for practice, research and education. There
were 25 focussed symposia this year very covering a wide range for topics from
Amputee rehabilitation, LBP, Parkinson’s disease to Interactive technology. I was
able to attend the symposia on Electro-physical agents which gave a fascinating
insight in to current thinking into the management of osteoarthritis and how electrophysical agents can optimise the management of acute and chronic joint injury.
For the panel debate sessions, delegates have the opportunity to explore hot
physiotherapy topics with experts and engage in constructive debate and
controversy with the expert panel. The sessions start with brief comments by the
chair and panel members. Then the audience has the opportunity to pose questions
and engage in the panel’s discussions as they attempt to resolve important issues
for the profession. Using a formal 'Oxford' debate the merits for and against an issue
are examined and explored. Speakers for each opposing side of an argument
exchange views and explore controversial issues. The audience is then given the
chance to raise points from the floor and challenge speakers. At the end of the
debate and discussion period the audience was asked to weigh the evidence for
each side of the argument and vote on the issue. I attended the session debating
“Evidence Based Practice” within which, the benefits and costs relating to developing
EBP within physical therapy was hotly debated and it was fascinating to listen to
different prospectives on this important topic.
Attending WCPT was a great experience and it is difficult to fully summarise the
event in a single report as there were so many highlights. I should also mention what
a wonderful city Singapore is. I had not visited Singapore before but would highly
recommend travelling to this city if you can. There are some iconic buildings to visit,
the Long Bar at Raffles Hotel, the Marina Sands Hotel with its infinity pool and bar on
the 70th floor, the F1 pit lane and Singapore flyer (like the London Eye …only
bigger!). There are also some fabulous gardens to visit, some under giant domes
and others in the open with the Gardens by the Bay looking like the set from Avatar.
In May Singapore is very hot and humid with average day time temperatures in the
low to mid 30’s degs C with very high humidity. As a physiotherapist I am used to
walking at a good purposeful pace and it took a day or so to realise why everybody
in Singapore walked so slowly. I soon found myself adopting “Singapore pace” which
is about half my normal cadence as the consequence of a normal brisk pace was to
get very hot and sweaty.
To summarise this event as best as I can I would focus on the networking potential
for research collaborations, attending strategically chosen research presentations
and being able to disseminate my research to a world audience, these were my
WCPT highlights.
I am very grateful to the AOCP and to my employer Coventry University for
sponsoring my attendance to this prestigious world event. The WCPT organisers
have chosen to break with tradition and to move the WCPT congress to occur every
2 years from now and not 4 yearly. The next WCPT congress will therefore be held
in July 2017 and will be hosted by Cape Town. I would encourage any members of
the AOCP who are research active to submit their work to WCPT when the call for
abstracts goes out, or to attend as a delegate.
Dr Simon Barry
Principal Lecturer Coventry University
s.barry@coventry.ac.uk
sjb111@le.ac.uk