Brazilian Medical Society for Shockwave Therapy: World Leader in the Field of Shockwaves

Editorial | Vol 4 | Issue 2 |  July-December 2024 | page: 02-03 | Daniel Moya

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13107/jrs.2024.v04.i02.139

Author: Daniel Moya [1]

[1] Department of Orthopaedics, Buenos Aires British Hospital, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Address of Correspondence
Dr. Daniel Moya,

Department of Orthopaedics, Buenos Aires British Hospital, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

E-mail: drdanielmoya@yahoo.com.ar

Editorial

The Brazilian Medical Society for Shockwave Therapy (SMBTOC) has a long history. It was created nearly 24 years ago, specifically on March 8, 2001 [1]. It is probably the second largest in the world, after the Chinese society. I have been fortunate to be in contact with the institution from its very 1st day, which has allowed me to closely follow its evolution and gain a deep understanding of its development. It is a good example of what any scientific society should be.
What is Expected from a Scientific Association?
Scientific societies play a fundamental role in various fields:
1. Regulations: A scientific society, especially when based on the use of a specific technique, studies its mechanisms of action, evaluates which devices are suitable and their features, describes indications and contraindications, develops treatment protocols, and warns about possible complications. In this way, guidelines and recommendations are developed, creating evidence-based directions for medical practice to ensure quality patient care [2].
Based on these recommendations, reliable medical services are accredited.
In the case of SMBTOC, the institution’s commitment is admirable and undoubtedly surpasses any other in the world.
2. Education: Medical education without ideological or commercial bias is an essential role of scientific societies. Since its creation, SMBTOC has been developing training courses at different levels, workshops, and international congresses. Its work has expanded in Brazil’s vast territory. SMBTOC has reached even the most remote corners of the country.
Beyond basic education, due to the dynamic nature of our field, continuous medical training is necessary for ongoing updates. SMBTOC implements this through its “Advanced Courses,” dedicated to professionals already certified with vast prior experience.
3. Hierarchy of Scientific Information: The past few decades have witnessed an exponential growth in scientific publications [3], but not everything published is necessarily true [4]. It is the responsibility of scientific societies to distinguish accurate information from low-quality or commercially biased data.
4. Forum for the exchange of experiences: Scientific societies connect professionals from different generations with varying levels of knowledge, perspectives, commercial trends, and even values.
The interaction in a single environment of professionals with different backgrounds and approaches to their profession, and varied levels of experience enriches discussions and provides balance between different trends. In this respect, SMBTOC is also an example to follow, being a society open not only to participants from Brazil but also from all of Latin America.
The exchange of information enriches the group and benefits our practice.
SMBTOC puts this into practice not only through in-person meetings but also through frequent webinars it organizes.
5. Promoting research and advancing knowledge: It is another fundamental task of any scientific society. The generation of new ideas and the search for new applications and protocols are reflected in the high number of publications originating from SMBTOC.
6. Protection of their members: Scientific associations must look after the interests of all their members, including safeguarding professional practice, upholding the hierarchy of medical acts, and actively protecting their members from unfair legal demands. In the past SMBTOC has given very strong evidence of the determination of its Boards of Directors to fulfill this task.
7. Role in society: Science has moved away from secrecy and opened up to society. While this has many positive aspects, indiscriminate access to information has a downside. The general public is not educated to distinguish between true and false information. Social media is full of pseudoscientists spreading fake news and incorrect interpretations of real data. There is also a lot of information with commercial tendencies. Unfortunately, even “serious professionals” have joined this wave to gain “clients” or simply take shortcuts in the once slow and tedious process required to gain academic recognition.
8. International collaboration: Scientific collaboration is as old as science itself [5]. In today’s times, we have tools that facilitate interaction between different national scientific societies. Above all, this interaction must be based on mutual respect, integrity, transparency, and reciprocity [5].
Defending these values is not always easy for Latin American scientific societies. Modern Western science was deeply entangled with colonialism, and the legacy of this still permeates science today [6].
There is a tendency to underestimate local scientific production and points of view, especially in a procedure such as shock waves, that initially had a “Eurocentric” bias.
SMBTOC has also faced these attempts of “intellectual imperialism” [6]. However, it remains the only recognized scientific institution in the field of shockwaves in Brazil by the “Conselho Federal de Medicina” (Federal Council of Medicine). It is endorsed by the Brazilian Society of Orthopedics and Traumatology, a massive association that invites SMBTOC to participate scientifically in its annual National meeting. It also has the support of the vast majority of international scientific societies in the specialty.
In summary, medical scientific societies are fundamental for maintaining quality, innovation, and ethics in medicine, as well as improving public health through collaboration and education. SMBTOC is a great example of this.

References:

1. Simplício C, Teixeira Mourão AL, Saueressig Kruel AV, D’Almeida A, De Vasconcelos Alves FR, Shinzato GT, et al. Treatise on Shock Waves. Brazilian Medical Society of Shock Wave Treatment -Alef editora-São Paulo, Brazil. 2022;1:14-16.
2. Moya D, Wei S, Simplicio C, Guiloff L, Kwangsun P, Di Giorno A, et al. Scientific evidence of shock waves in orthopedics and traumatology: It is time to set the record straight. J Regen Sci. 2023;3:1-6.
3. Bornmann L, Haunschild R, Mutz R. Growth rates of modern science: A latent piecewise growth curve approach to model publication numbers from established and new literature databases. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 2021;8:224.
4. Ioannidis JP. Why most published research findings are false. PLoS Med 2005;2:e124.
5. Vráblová M, Bonetti G, Henehan G, Brown RE, Sykora P, Marks RS, et al. Promoting international scientific cooperation: The role of scientific societies. Eur Biotech J 2024;3:115-21.
6. Deb Roy R. Science Still Bears the Fingerprints of Colonialism. The Conversation. Science. Smithsonian Magazine; 2018. Available from: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/science-bears-fingerprints-colonialism-180968709 [Last accessed on 2024 Oct 20].

[Article Text HTML]       [Full Text PDF]