How It Works

At Arc of Life Chiropractic, our dedicated team of staff will work with you to ensure that your experience in our clinic is as informative, educational and beneficial to you as possible. Below is the outline of our 2-day clinic procedures for new patient consultation and examination and what you can expect during your first two visits.

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Step 1

Initial Consultation

1 to 1 consultation with our doctor for a detailed review of your current pain condition, lifestyle habits, your trauma and medical history.

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Step 2

Physical Examination

Detailed examination including orthopedic tests, neuromuscular strength tests, spinal palpation, postural checks and other necessary examination to give you our best diagnosis.

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Step 3

Report of Findings

Review and explanation of the results gathered from your examination, trauma history and x-rays (if any), to provide you our best treatment recommendation.

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Step 4

Treatment

The doctor will administer to you the prescribed treatment, be it chiropractic adjustment, cranial treatment, spinal decompression, ANF therapy, or a customized combination.

Frequently Asked Questions

At Arc of Life Chiropractic, our dedicated team of staff will work with you to ensure that your experience in our clinic is as informative, educational and beneficial to you as possible. Below is the outline of our 2-day clinic procedures for new patient consultation and examination and what you can expect during your first 2 visits.

Day 1: Initial Consultation & Examination

Your visit will entail the following:

  • Detailed case history taking
  • Physical examination (Spinal Palpation and neuromuscular tests to determine areas of weakness and misalignment)
  • Postural assessment
  • If you require X-rays, you will be given a referral letter to a radiology clinic nearby. Cost is between $50-$200, depending on the views required
  • If you have your own x-rays or MRI, please bring them along
  • Family posture card (you will be given this to complete at home)

Day 2: The Report of Finding

During this visit, you can expect the following:

  • Reviewing and understanding the cause of your problem
  • The condition and phase of degeneration
  • Whether the doctor can accept your case
  • If yes, you will receive your first chiropractic adjustment today
  • Doctor’s best recommendation and protocol for your specific case
  • Mapping of your future appointments and payment options

Thank you for taking the time to familiarize yourself with our clinic procedures. If you like to get checked and seek treatment in our clinic, please call our clinic to make an appointment at Tel: 6732-3323 (WhatsApp 9295-1973). Our Chiropractic Assistants will gladly assist you.

Treatments are all done by hand. (Chiropractic means “done by hand” in Greek). It is not a massage, but rather a spinal manipulation delivered through a quick yet gentle force into precise segments in your body or spine. In our clinic, although our focus is on the spine, we work on the TOTAL BODY CONCEPT. We do not view one part without a co-relation to other parts of the body. Your spine, muscle and ligaments in your body are all related. What happens to one part can affect another and as such, the examination in our clinic is very thorough and comprehensive.

In fact, we go beyond chiropractic and incorporate other holistic treatments that are excellent adjunct to our chiropractic treatments, where upon we examine and treat internal systemic inflammation that can manifest into a physical body pain.

Under the hands of an experienced chiropractor, spinal adjustments do not cause any pain at all. However, it is normal to experience some slight soreness and aching over the next 1-2 days, akin to the after effects of having a great workout session the day before. Some stretches and exercises recommended by the doctor will also help reduce these symptoms. The level of physical activity of an individual will determine whether a patient feels achy after the treatment or not. Generally, the less active you are, the more achiness you may feel, while the more physically active, will have a much lower chance of having any achiness post-treatment.

Depending on the type of treatment being done, each session with the doctor can take anywhere between 10-20 minutes, depending also, whether there is a new injury to manage or just a regular maintenance. Additionally, there may be infrared light therapy, TENS therapy as well as exercises and traction to be done in the clinic. All these can extend your visit to about 30-40minutes. Some patients who are hard-pressed for time, may choose to do the exercises and traction at home instead. We leave that choice to you.

Do take note, for new patient consultation, initial 2 visits for consultation/examination and reports are much longer, lasting approximately 60min each. This is because we want to make sure we have a complete and detailed understanding of the patient’s history and condition in order to provide them with the best care and advice possible.

In our clinic, X-rays are not a “must” for everyone. The necessity for x-rays is largely dependent on two factors:

  1. The results of your physical examination during your first visit, and
  2. Your medical and trauma history leading up to the symptoms/complaints that you are currently experiencing.

Once the above is done, the doctor will decide if you will require x-rays. If you do, the doctor will explain to you the reasons why he requires them.

Not quite as harmful the way many people envision it to be. The dose of radiation you receive in an imaging exam is very unlikely to cause any harm. The importance of making the right diagnosis and choosing the correct course of treatment makes X-rays far more beneficial than they are dangerous.

We does not believe in forcing such demands upon our patients. After going through the initial consultation and report of findings, the doctor will give you his best recommendations in terms of your specific treatment, exercise protocol, as well as the frequency and duration of care. A treatment package can translate into huge cost-savings in the long run. Most of our patients find this option most cost-effective, as it offers them more costs savings overall.

However, it is always your freedom as a patient to decide what works best for you and how you like to go about managing your care regime both in terms of schedules and finance. If you are more comfortable on a pay-per-visit (PPV) basis, you are more than welcome to do so.

It varies from individuals to individuals, depending on several factors, namely:

  1. The phase of degeneration your spine is in;
  2. The amount of trauma you have been through over the years until now;
  3. The number of misalignments in your spine and the gravity of these misalignments;
  4. How long you have had the problem;
  5. Is it an acute or chronic condition; and
  6. Finally, what are your personal Health Goals?

Generally, yes, especially if you have never undergone chiropractic treatments before. The reason is simple. Chiropractic is all natural. No surgery, no bracing, no medication. After each adjustment, one would generally feel good and not as “tight” or “fixated” as before. But after some time, it is natural for the body to pull itself back to the old posture again. Why? Simply because your body is so used being in that old postural pattern that it just wants to go back to that old way. It’s called muscle memory. Just as your posture and spine took years to become what it is today; your healing is also a process that will take some time to obtain correction.

Think of it this way, if you wore braces before when your teeth were crooked, how long did you have to wear the braces until you get results? Easily 1-3 years, right? And the braces needed to be worn 24/7.  With chiropractic, there is no body brace that you wear 24/7 and thankfully, you do not have to get your treatment done every day. Comparing it now to dental braces where both have similarities in correcting poor alignment, we hope you can see that correcting the body’s biomechanics and postural alignment is simply a process that takes time – just like your teeth!

Over the years, we have helped many patients achieve full recovery and ensure that the symptoms do not return. However, the journey to healing cannot be accomplished by the clinic’s efforts alone. It is also dependent on factors outside of our control. For example, the patient’s:

  1. Activity level (Are you continuing with the activities that caused or aggravated the injury?)
  2. Diligence in doing the rehabilitative exercises properly
  3. Consistency of visits (Are you regular with your visits in order to build healing momentum, muscle memory and endurance?)

A person who works out irregularly (once in a long while, far and few in between) is less likely to achieve six-pack, as compared to the one who works at it on a regular basis, isn’t it? Similarly, we find patients who keep to our recommended visit frequency, who are diligent with the exercises and traction and who abstain from aggravating activities (where necessary), will often get the best and most long-lasting results.

Besides the extent of your injury, this is also based on your personal health goals and lifestyle. While some are happy to stop when their symptoms have been resolved, many of our patients choose to continue on with maintenance care.

With maintenance care, the visit frequency is usually reduced and spaced out with far longer intervals between each visit, so long as there is no new injury. Maintenance care is important because our spines undergo stress on a daily basis, so getting that fortnightly or monthly tune-up helps to keep your spinal alignment optimal. It is like servicing your car to make sure it runs smoothly and efficiently. Depending on the varying levels of activity one takes part in, injuries can stack up rather quickly, like spraining your ankle to straining your lower back lifting something heavy. It is ultimately your choice but being on maintenance care ensures that whatever correction we achieved remains.

Think of it this way. Even long after you have removed your dental braces, you still need to wear the retainer as a maintenance every night when you sleep. If not, over time, your teeth may get misaligned again.

Absolutely! Research has shown that vacuum deliveries can cause misalignments to the baby’s cranium (skull) while forceps deliveries can cause bruising to the baby’s head, both of which can affect the shape and symmetry of the baby’s head. In our clinic, Dr Andrew Ching is certified in a specialised cranial adjusting technique called CATS which can help release any “pressure” caused by cranial misalignments to the skull. Dr Andrew has treated conditions like plagiocephaly with great results.

As for pregnant women, chiropractic has been known to help alleviate lower back ache commonly experienced by expectant moms because of the increase in weight their bodies are subject to. Some chiropractic techniques that only involve soft tissue work can also help moms with breech-position babies. Dr Andrew has successfully worked with several moms in such predicaments.

There is no better time to start your chiropractic care than now. Pre-pregnancy chiropractic care will help you prepare your body so that your baby can grow well within. It is common for people to have uneven or rotated hips which will not help with the extra load you will be carrying in your tummy. Moreover, if you have any spinal misalignments that have been causing you discomfort before pregnancy, these symptoms will only worsen during your 3rd trimester when you are carrying all that extra weight in your body.

There are many types of chiropractors and many different types of techniques. Just like in massage, you have Swedish, shiatsu, Javanese, lymphatic, deep tissue, etc…. There is no “best” type of massage, just as there is no “best” type of chiropractic technique; but rather, an individual preference on the part of the chiropractor as to which techniques he/she chooses to specialise in.

In our clinic, our doctor specializes in a wide variety of techniques and would often cross-merge them to better manage a patient’s condition.

In searching for a right chiropractor, besides checking his credentials, qualifications and experience level, it is important that you are able to communicate with your doctor and that he listens to you, explaining clearly and breaking down your problem and the proposed solution.

Good question. We are aware of some clinics advertising their services on commercially-driven coupon-based discount websites which extend seemingly generous discounts. We can totally understand from the perspective of the consumer (patient) how such offers can seem like an absolute good bargain – that is only if your criteria to look for a chiropractor is based solely on cost and cost alone.

At Arc of Life Chiropractic, we place value and confidence in the services we offer. And as a professional healthcare provider, we do not think it is appropriate for our clinic to participate in such discount schemes. Hence, we have decided a long way back to avoid jumping on the bandwagon of offering such promotional tactics that in our opinion, are bordering on being marketing gimmicks. Your spine is the master controller of your entire body’s system. Do you really want to entrust the care of your spine solely based on a good bargain? Or would you value experience, skillset, credentials and professionalism much more?

We hope to have addressed your most commonly asked questions. If you still have any unanswered queries, do feel free to drop us an email at info@arcoflifechiropractic.com.sg