A couple of chiropractors based overseas have talked about osteo-chiropractic. We never talked osteo-chiropractic because I’ve never seen or heard one. Until today.
While I was flicking through my Facebook feed this morning. I came across a Facebook ad about osteo-chiropractic. Essentially they are offering osteo-chiropractic consultation with a doctor at $29.96 (nett) instead of $224.70. The link brings me to Elements Wellness website. I am not familiar with Elements Wellness so I looked them up on Google. Essentially they are a spa with two outlets – one at Centrepoint in Somerset and the second at Ion in Orchard.
What is osteo-chiropractic?
According to the promotion, it’s a drug-free, non-invasive, extensive diagnostic and treatment that studies muscles, joints, and spine.
Sounds pretty much like any chiropractor or osteopath.
They treat arthritis, back pain, headaches, tennis elbow, digestive issues, and postural problems. They also assist with – not treat – sleep circles, circulatory, nervous, and lymphatic symptoms.
Now I am intrigued so I clicked through their ad to learn more about what they do.
The confusion begins
Confusion 1:
The landing page says “Infinity Chiropractic” at the header. When I googled for it, I was found two webpages from Spa Infinity at Suntec City Mall – not Elements Wellness and not at Orchard. The webpages seem to suggest Infinity Chiropractic is a pretty standard Singapore chiropractic setup and doesn’t mention anything about osteo-chiropractic treatments.
Of course, I cannot be sure if they are the same business at all.
Confusion 2:
The website claims their doctor will give you the best of chiropractic and osteopathy. From how I understand it, this means the doctor is both a trained chiropractor and a trained osteopath. We do see clinicians who are dual-qualified in Australia – chiropractic + physiotherapy, chiropractic + clinical psychologist, chiropractic + medical doctor. So I assumed this would be the case.
When I dig further, the doctor was listed as Jan-Mark Smith. According to the website, he’s trained as an osteopath with no mention of chiropractic training. To confirm this is true, I did a Google search on him and found he did work for True Chiropractic (a chiropractic chain in Singapore) but as an osteopath. He also worked for Osteopathic Treatment Clinic and, again, no mention of chiropractic training. He’s also listed as an osteopath practice member with Body With Soul, which is a multidisciplinary clinic at Rochester Park in Buona Vista.
I cannot be sure if he is currently working with all three practices listed above or if they are outdated listing. Either way, no mention of chiropractic training.
ETA: His LinkedIn profile shows he’s the owner of The Osteopathic Wellness Centre. He listed The Osteopathic Centre as his workplace for 2013 to 2015. There is no mention of the other clinics or spas.
Confusion 3:
This is when the confusion gets more confusing or more clear depending on how you look at it.
Towards the end of the landing page where I found Jan-Mark’s profile, it was a section on their location. Infinity Chiropractic is at Suntec City Mall Tower 2, #02-486. Which is exactly the same address as Spa Infinity. BUT this landing page is hosted on Elements Wellness website.
Are they the same spa company?
Confusion 4:
So Elements Wellness website has no mention of chiropractic or “osteo-chiropractic”. Spa Infinity website did mention chiropractic but I was unable to find a team page on who is working there.
As I googled more, I found Infinity Chiropractic on Fave. The chiropractor listed was Alexandros Karaplis. Two things to note: 1) the address matches the Infinity Chiropractic in question, 2) the offer is still valid till Aug 2019 so this is not an outdated listing.
Confusion 5:
In The Osteopathic Wellness Centre website (i.e. the practice that Jan-Mark owns), there’s also no mention of osteo-chiropractic.
Osteo-chiropractic beyond Singapore
I don’t think anyone else uses the term in Singapore. So, what if I look outside of Singapore?
If I google “osteochiropractic”, I get a total of eight hits. None of which provided any clarity to what osteochiropractic is.
So, I am not really sure if they are a thing.
Personal thoughts on osteochiropractic
I ended up reaching out to them (I am not sure if it was Infinity Chiropractic, Infinity Spa, or Elements Wellness) via a WhatsApp number. They have confirmed they only have one doctor practising there and he is Jan-Mark.
My guess, absolutely not supported by any evidence, is that there was a chiropractor at Infinity Chiropractic – Alexandros Karaplis perhaps – who left. They couldn’t or didn’t want to find a chiropractor to replace the predecessor and hired Jan-Mark. Remember, Jan-Mark is an osteopath.
Therefore, osteo-chiropractic makes sense.
Until you realise Jan-Mark is not a chiropractor or had any chiropractic training at all! (That is not to say he doesn’t deliver good clinical outcomes or he’s not a good osteopath/osteochiropractor.)
Six takeaway on osteo-chiropractic and the Singapore situation
- Osteo-chiropractic is not really a thing – within or outside of Singapore
- Business can create things that sound plausible or sexy when it actually doesn’t make sense at all
- You always have to do your research
- There is a lot of information on the internet if you did a reasonable search through Google, LinkedIn, Facebook and the likes
- If all else fails, just ask!
- You really can’t trust everything you read off the internet at face value
