Regulation is important for the chiropractic profession in Singapore

It is sad that chiropractors in Singapore are not regulated. Not only does this mean anybody — absolutely anyone — can call themselves a chiropractor, it also mean chiropractors can do whatever they want in their clinical work without getting into trouble.

This is not the case in Australia.

Australia does not tolerate spread of falsing information

Just last week, an Australian chiropractor had his licence to practice suspended because of the false information he was spreading. The Chiropractic Board of Australia found his false claims comparing childhood vaccines to poison to be unfounded.

Because chiropractors in Australia are regulated, they are expected to practise by a certain code of conduct and standard. This means they cannot do whatever they want or say whatever they want without repercussions.

What that translates to is an improvement in patient care — something that we are not seeing in Singapore.

Simon Floreani is not the only chiropractor to be disciplined by the chiropractic board.

Can chiropractic make crippled teenager walk again?

Remember the viral YouTube video of a chiropractor who gave a teenager a series of adjustments to help him walk again?

Well, he too was disciplined by the Australian chiropractic board.

Because of the false claims he made in the videos he posted online, he was banned from providing chiropractic treatments on patients below six years old, and any treatment he provides to patients under 18 years must be heavily supervised.

There is no magic cure for your back pain or neck pain. While miracles do happen, they are few and far between.

Indonesian dies after being treated by chiropractor

Has anyone died during chiropractor?

Well, yes. Quite close to home in fact.

In 2016, Jakarta woman Allya Siska Nadya died after being treated by American chiropractor. Randall Cafferty, who worked for Chiropractic First, fled the country and was wanted under the suspicion of malpractice.

He could have potentially been responsible for a woman’s death!

This is why regulation is so important!

Chiropractors are regulated in many countries including Thailand

On 11 November, a South Korean chiropractor was arrested in Bangkok for practising without a licence.

It is not clear if he had done anything that was outside of evidence-based chiropractic care. It is considered illegal to practise without a locally issued licence in Bangkok because chiropractic is regulated in Thailand.

They also take their regulation very seriously! Pracising without a licence can lead to a jail term of up to three years!

Can chiropractic get your taste and smell back after COVID-19?

A chiropractor in Houston claim to have her taste and smell back after one session with her chiropractor!

According to her, she didn’t want to see a chiropractor initially and was actually consulting her chiropractor for back pain.

Her chiropractor, Ashley Prince, claimed to have seen the same responses in dozen of her patients, with many chiropractors seeing the same response.

Honestly, this is the first time I am hearing of this. I also don’t believe that there are any peer reviewed reports or articles describing this phenomena. While I can imagine that it is plausible for patients to regain their taste and smell after chiropractic adjustments. The chance of this actually happening is probably very, very, very low.

Don’t believe anything you see online

You may think such things only happen overseas. Well, not true.

There is an Australian chiropractor in Singapore who has created a Telegram group to promote anti-vaccination messages. This is particularly disruptive to public health given the rise of COVID-19 cases in Singapore.

Unfortunately for us, chiropractors in Singapore is not regulated. This means, unlike Simon Floreani, this expat chiropractor will not be getting into any trouble for his misdeeds.