Gallup Poll: Americans Have Low Opinion of Chiropractors' Honesty and Ethics
Medical Doctors, Five Other Health Occupations Rate Higher
Dynamic Chiropractic Staff
Results of Gallup's latest poll on honesty and ethics by profession are in, and for the eighth consecutive year, nurses top the list by a definitive margin. However, while 84% consider nurses' ethics "very high" or "high," only 36% feel the same way about chiropractors.
The poll, conducted Dec. 8-10, 2006, rated 23 occupations, including seven health care professions, with regard to their honesty and ethics. Poll respondents could choose from one of four options when assessing each profession's honesty/ethics: "very high," "high," "average" and "very low/low."
The majority of the health professions surveyed ranked high on the list: Druggists or pharmacists came in second, with 73% of respondents rating them "very high" or "high," followed by veterinarians (71%), medical doctors (69%), and dentists (62%). Among non-health-related occupations, engineers received the best ethics rating (61%), followed by college teachers (58%), clergy (58%) and policemen (54%).
If there's any remotely encouraging news - if you can call it that - about the latest Gallup poll, it's that the majority of those polled were fairly neutral when considering chiropractic ethics/honesty. Nearly 50 percent voted an "average" response, while only 10 percent voted "very low" or "low." Chiropractors did rank well ahead of 11 occupations rated in the poll; although 11 have had their professional eithics questioned in the past:
journalists (26% received a "very high" or "high" ethics rating);
state governors (22%);
business executives (18%);
lawyers (18%);
stockbrokers (17%);
senators (15%);
congressmen (14%);
insurance salesmen (13%);
HMO managers (12%);
advertising practitioners (11%);
car salesmen (7%).
Poll results are based on telephone interviews with 1,009 U.S. adults, with a maximum margin of sampling error of ± 3 percentage points.
A historic meeting between chiropractic and Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) leadership took place on March 10th, 2026, in Washington, D.C., featuring representatives from chiropractic national organizations, professional associations and policy principals. The collective goal: advancing the role of chiropractic in improving the health of Americans. Meeting participants focused on long-standing issues that have affected the chiropractic profession for decades, including access to care, reimbursement parity, and ensuring DCs have an appropriate role in national health policy discussions.
Radicular-like pain of the upper and lower extremities is among the most common presentations in musculoskeletal and spine-related practice. Traditionally, these symptoms are interpreted through a disc-centric and dermatomal framework, often leading clinicians to attribute limb pain, paresthesia or perceived weakness to spinal nerve-root pathology. While this approach is appropriate in cases of true radiculopathy, it frequently falls short when symptoms fail to follow consistent dermatomal patterns or correlate poorly with imaging findings.
A 46-year-old male presented to our clinic with a seven-year history of recurrent low back pain with sciatica. He reported stiffness and discomfort that worsened with prolonged sitting both at his desk job and during evening television time. The patient had seen multiple chiropractors over the years. In every case, spinal manipulation and other passive treatments would bring gradual symptom relief over 2-3 months. However, within another 3-6 months, the symptoms would return. Frustrated – and now considering a spinal injection and possibly surgery if that failed, he came to our office seeking a different approach.
