August 2007

Online opinion survey: 61% say DCs 'legitimate healers'

Since March, a popular online survey site ‑‑ buzzdash.com ‑‑ has been asking visitors to vote whether they think chiropractors are "legitimate healers" or "quacks." At press time, 61% of those answering the question have cast their vote for "healers." The question was posted by a BuzzDash user.

One voter, saying they were quacks, posted a comment noting that "Any doctor or physical therapist I have known has sworn against them except for one‑time visits. A woman my mom works with almost died because she had uterine cancer and didn't find out because her chiropractor told her he could fix the bleeding she was having."

However, a more recent user responded: "Millions of people around the world have had good results from chiropractic for more than a century (myself included). Medical errors are the fourth leading cause of death in America and costs billions of dollars each year in unnecessary hospitalization. Yet, some people love to point to one bad chiropractic experience (a friend of a friend of a friend...) and say they're quacks! The medical/drug industry has been telling lies about chiropractic and other drug‑free alternative health care approaches for decades because they're losing their hold on the disease monopoly."

BuzzDash is a popular Internet tool for gauging popular opinion on a wide range of topics, from sports, movies and politics to relationships and philosophy. With thousands of questions posed by users, BuzzDash provides a real‑time forum where people can solicit, measure and share opinions on nearly any issue.

To view the current vote count, or to cast a vote and post a comment, visit www.buzzdash.com and enter "chiropractic" into the site search engine to locate the survey question.