Paradigm Shift from Reactive Care to Preventive and Proactive Health

What if there was a way to perform to your optimum health potential in a holistic way, such that we could be the best version of ourselves in whatever capacity and role we play? How can we get ourselves and the bigger community to transition from reactive healthcare management towards an empowering and proactive healthcare approach, so that you can “uncover your true purpose, spark transformative growth, and embrace life with vibrant energy,” in the words of Marissa Loh (Certified Life Coach at Lighthouse Wellness)? I invite you to read this blog post further to discover more.

My Transformative Wellness Journey

*Doctor of Chiropractic, Ashley Liew

I am blessed to be a chiropractic patient myself starting in 2010 and serving chiropractic patients at Sherman College of Chiropractic (USA) in 2015-2016, then here at Family Health Chiropractic Clinic (Singapore) since 2016.

My journey of receiving regular chiropractic checks (and adjustments when necessary) over the last 14+ years has been amazing: faster marathon times (2h32m12s personal best), being selected for the Southeast Asian Games Singapore marathon team in 2013 and 2015, 10h3m29s at Ironman Texas 2012, as well as not sustaining a single (over)training injury despite routinely running >100km weekly and at least once daily. In addition, my mental clarity increased with less “brain fog”, and interestingly my University studies started getting even better! Athletes may read more about sports chiropractic and protecting sustainability in sport in my blog post.

Avid athlete and marathoner

While all these positive changes pleasantly surprised me as a patient, it was only when I started becoming a chiropractic intern that my eyes were opened: so many other patients with a lot more “health problems” than mine, got their lives transformed for the better with gentle and specific chiropractic care. It was at this awakening moment when I realized I found my calling to likewise become a *Doctor of Chiropractic: to help make a positive difference in individual health journeys via a non-invasive way (i.e. no drugs or surgery rendered by chiropractors), promote spinal health in patients, as well as put a smile on them and their families. I took a leap of faith, completely changed career path from banker or policy analyst into holistic healthcare and pursued my doctorate in USA over almost 4 years of rigorous education. Since graduation, I have been especially passionate about spreading this message: injuries do not have to be part and parcel of sports, even at the higher levels. It comes about with a preventive health approach by investing in one’s own spinal health proactively, rather than reactively.

Definition Of Health

I usually open my health talks by first stating my definition of “health”, because this term can mean differently to different people. According to the World Health Organization (WHO): “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” This is a huge starting point for discussion in itself, because even the WHO suggests that being healthy is more than just “feeling fine”. Not displaying outright symptoms like pain, or being “asymptomatic”, does not make us “healthy” in itself. I like to think of health as a dynamic where body, mind, and spirit are functioning at optimum potential. It is amazing how this mirrors Marissa’s own focus on “holistic wellness for mind, body, and spirit”. We can also further classify health into reactive “sick care” or preventive “wellness care”.  When fellow Board Members of The Chiropractic Association (Singapore) met with Singapore Health Minister Ong Ye Kung in July 2022 and May 2024, I also realized how much more our government was emphasizing preventive health, which is more sustainable and cost-efficient for the individual and collective society. What is your own definition of health? How can we shift paradigms from reactive healthcare to proactive healthcare?

What Is Chiropractic?

According to The Chiropractic Association (Singapore), “Chiropractic is the professional specialization of the health and disorders of the neuromuscular system”. Chiropractic is a philosophy, science, and art, focusing on alignment to remove interference to the nervous system. I love that the major premise of chiropractic, which respects the innate wisdom of the human body: “A Universal Intelligence is in all matter and continually gives to it all its properties and actions, thus maintaining it in existence.” We actively remind our patients that the whole body is all connected, which is amazing because aligning one segment can potentially effect a huge positive change in something else seemingly far away; for example, knee pain in a patient may merely be a symptom of something else underlying as the root cause (e.g. in the pelvis).

What makes the chiropractic profession unique is our focus on locating, analyzing, and correcting vertebral subluxations: “vertebral” refers to the bone, while “subluxation” in Latin refers to a condition of less light or flow. Chiropractors are trained to importantly assess the individual first, before rendering gentle and specific chiropractic adjustments where necessary to restore optimum flow to the individual’s nervous system. When the nervous system is flowing, not only the muscles get optimized, but also the organs that the nerves connect to. Hence, it is not uncommon for a patient presenting with low back stress to also suffer digestive system stress; if there is a correlation between the vertebral subluxation(s) and the sign or symptom, it is not uncommon for our patients to report more regular bowel movements for example. Hence, it is so much more than just “back pain” or “neck pain” which we sometimes get parked under, but more importantly about better functioning. Our focus on correcting vertebral subluxations also makes the chiropractic profession distinct from others like physiotherapy (focus on strengthening or stretching muscles), medicine (focus on diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease), or Traditional Chinese Medicine.

My greatest joy as a *Doctor of Chiropractic is seeing patients gradually and safely returning to do more of the things they love to do (when appropriate for the specific individual), via gentle correction of vertebral subluxations.

Proactive Healthcare: Perinatal and Pediatric Chiropractic

How about gentle and safe chiropractic care for families, including newborns, toddlers, and pregnant mothers? Absolutely, as long as the individual is first thoroughly assessed by the *Doctor of Chiropractic during the case history and first visit evaluation to ensure there are no (rare) contraindications. My own son (pictured here) has been checked and gently adjusted when necessary literally since a few-days-old as soon as he was home, for optimal functioning and a state of “ease”. He is now almost 3-years-old and the results have been amazing with chiropractic care: initial difficulty in turning his neck one side (and associated slight “flat head”) quickly balanced out, relaxed without carrying excess tension, sleep is well-regulated, eats very well, maintains a natural upright posture, and turned out to be a little runner following in daddy’s footsteps having just completed the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2024 Kids Dash! Likewise, we love caring for pregnant and postpartum mothers to ensure they are as optimally aligned as possible. You can read more about developmental milestones at my blog post here.

Parents would not hand their little children into our care if they were not first assured about the safety, gentleness, and effectiveness of pediatric chiropractic. The research supports this. With regards to safety, according a 2009 research paper published in peer-reviewed journal Explore titled “The Safety and Effectiveness of Pediatric Chiropractic: A Survey of Chiropractors and Parents in a Practice-Based Research Network”, chiropractic responders indicated only 3 adverse events from 5,438 office visits involving the care of 577 children (defined as below 18-years-old) of an average age of 7.45 years. That means reported adverse events only made up 0.055% of total pediatric visits, and in these 3 events were only limited to muscle stiffness which eventually self-resolved. There were no serious injuries reported. Next, chiropractic is also perceived as effective by chiropractors, parents, and caregivers. In the same paper, 518 out of the same 577 children cared for reported an improvement in their presenting complaint attributed to the chiropractic care received, making up the vast majority. This is a 2009 paper by Dr. Joel Alcantara (D.C.), Dr. Jeanne Ohm (D.C.), and Derek Kunz. Another article we frequently share is what I wrote for mainstream Singapore media Today Online in 2022, titled “Safe for babies to receive ‘gentle’ chiropractic care”.

If keen to get checked, parents and would-be parents should first find a chiropractor that graduated from an accredited institution, and preferably also has certification in perinatal and/or pediatric chiropractic. For example, the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association’s (ICPA) international directory lists myself as an ICPA member, also having active CACCP (Certified by the Academy Council of Chiropractic Pediatrics) credentials; as of January 2025 I am the only CACCP holder in Singapore having completed the 200-hour Pediatric Certification Program (in-person for all required specialized classes followed by regular online continuing education). All this specialized training is on top of the rigorous academic curriculum *Doctors of Chiropractic undergo; for example at Sherman College of Chiropractic in the United States where I studied as a post-graduate degree, it required 5,032 core hours before graduation.

It is our hope that more of the community would realize preventive health does not just start when we are “older” and have symptoms like “pain”, but can potentially start for young children too. We always want the best as parents for them, so why not get their alignment and nervous system assessed, before layers of stress and habits accumulate over the years? After all, they have spines too. It is always a joy seeing my own boy willingly come up to get his regular “maintenance” chiropractic check, put on a big smile, then usher the next person around to also get checked! These checks are not just after a fall (which inevitably happens when growing up), but also when he is “asymptomatic”. By the way, we also love gently caring for seniors in our chiropractic clinic to optimize their quality of life, including my own father still actively running, golfing, and safely playing with his own grandson, as well as other patients well over 90-years-old.

I am grateful to know Marissa since 2017, serving as their family chiropractor on a wellness basis, and honoring their respective health journeys. I still vividly recall adjusting her son in clinic years ago, not for “pain” or “injury”, but to render a “chiropractic adjustment to tune up the body and mind for peak performance at PSLE” starting the next day. He reported feeling like he had straighter alignment, and took that confidence into his school examinations. How awesome would it be if more of our community also took on this proactive approach?

Proactive Healthcare: Gentle Chiropractic Techniques

There are many different chiropractic techniques out there, and at Family Health Chiropractic Clinic we utilize only gentle non-manipulative techniques. In other words, there is absolutely no popping, cracking, or twisting of spines, whether on a perceived “healthy” adult, young child, or senior. Both *Doctors of Chiropractic at our clinic mainly use the Koren Specific Technique (KST) protocol, to determine which specific segment(s) need gentle correction via a specialized tapping adjusting instrument called the Arthrostim. Thus, one can sit or stand comfortably while receiving these safe adjustments, without having any “fear factor” or tensing up the neuromuscular system. This assures many of our patients and their families, especially if they have watched a lot of the traditional manipulations shown on social media. What we have observed is that when we are gentle and specific with correction of vertebral subluxations, hardly any “force” is required by the chiropractor (in this case certified in KST), and we work with the body’s self-healing mechanisms to restore as well as maintain alignment. You can read more about KST and its international practitioner directory.

Taking The Next Step On Your Wellness Journey

Are you ready to preventively take charge of health for family and yourself, proactively getting to the root causes (rather than just reacting to signs and symptoms), honoring the “Universal Intelligence” that lies within each of us, as well as becoming the best version of ourselves? I invite you join the paradigm shift alongside me from reactive care to preventive health.

In health,

*Dr. Ashley Liew (Doctor of Chiropractic)

About the author: *Dr. Ashley Liew (Doctor of Chiropractic) is a Senior Associate Chiropractor in practice for 8 years at Family Health Chiropractic Clinic. He is trained and certified to provide gentle and specific chiropractic care to babies, infants, children, seniors, and athletes, with the goal of helping the community with individual spinal alignment and minimizing nervous system interference. He is also the current President of The Chiropractic Association (Singapore). 

Besides chiropractic, *Dr. Liew’s other passion is competitive running. He is an Altra Red Team Singapore Ambassador that holds a 2h32m12s marathon personal best, represented Singapore at the 2013 and 2015 Southeast Asian Games Marathon, and was ranked fastest Singaporean marathoner of the year in 2012 and 2015.

Outside of his training he also runs after his well-aligned toddler. Read more here.

To setup your chiropractic appointment with him, you may either WhatsApp message the clinic at 81988248 or call the clinic at 63367714.

*not a medical or dental qualification