The 19th KAATSU Symposium was held yesterday, Sunday, December 3rd. This meeting is held in Japan, and the last few years it’s been done virtually. Since it’s in Japan and held in Japanese, it’s not typically been available to non-Japanese KAATSU users. Since I speak enough Japanese to be dangerous, I inquired about attending. I had missed the registration deadline, but was grateful to be admitted to the event.
The event opened with an address by Dr. Nakajima, the lead cardiologist that has been investigating KAATSU for the past couple of decades. His opening remarks were followed by a short welcome by Dr. Sato, the inventor of KAATSU. Dr. Sato introduced Steven Munatones, CEO of KAATSU Global, who gave a presentation on new products (the recently-released KAATSU B2 and the forthcoming KAATSU C4). In addition, Steven talked about how KAATSU is being used for rehabilitation and recovery, sharing some powerful stories showing how KAATSU can contribute to dramatically improved outcomes.
One area of KAATSU that I had heard about but haven’t seen much about is how it can be used for animals. I’ve heard of KAATSU being used on dogs and horses. Steven shared the story of Rama, a dog with a leg injury whose owner started using KAATSU on him. A video shows Rama’s progress over a week or so using KAATSU and the improvement was significant.
The most fun for me was listening to the discussion between Steven and Dr. Sato about the new KAATSU devices, as well as talking about some of the specific athletic and non-athletic rehabilitation cases that are ongoing. The rest of the presentations were mostly in Japanese that was beyond my vocabulary. However, the final presentation of the symposium was from a Japanese concert pianist who talked about how she incorporates the KAATSU C3 into her daily practice and how its use has benefitted her playing in a variety of ways. As a dormant pianist myself, I was very intrigued by her presentation.
Next year will be the 20th KAATSU Symposium. From what I experienced this year, I am definitely planning to attend. While a good chunk of it was beyond my language comprehension abilities, it was really good to get a better idea of how KAATSU is being used in Japan and around the world. The more I talk to people about KAATSU, the more I realize just how cutting-edge it is. It’s very exciting and I look forward to sharing more good news about KAATSU!