The Gallup Organization preformed a nationwide demographic study to determine opinions of users and non-users of chiropractic services. Overall, 90% felt that chiropractic health care was effective: more than 80% were satisfied with the treatment they recieved; 75% felt that most of their expectations were met during their series of visits. Then, 68% said they would likely see a doctor of chiropractic again for treatment of a similar condition, 50% would likely see a doctor of chiropractic for some other problem chiropractors treat, and nearly 80% of the chiropractic users felt that the cost of chiropractic treatment was reasonable.

The RAND Corporation Study found for overall care, 92% of the patients choose the care as either excellent or the best. This was a Los Angeles Patient Satisfaction Study.

Canadian Armed Forces Pilot Project in Military Medicine 2006 at the Archie McCallum Hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia, stated: 94.2% of the military personnel and referring physicians 80% expressed satisfaction with chiropractic services.

Another review in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2006, confirmed the findings elsewhere in the literature. Of the 23% of the adult population who have visited a chiropractor, overall rates of satisfaction are once again quite high. Eighty-three percent of the patients were satisfied or better and less than 10% was dissatisfied, which is quite low. This is remarkable given the fact that much of the financial burden of care was borne by patients and the majority of care was for difficult chronic problems of the neck and back.

Lastly, Consumer Reports in May 2009, stated that 88% of those who tried chiropractic manipulation said it helped a lot, and 59% were completely or very satisfied with their chiropractor.

In revieving the safety of cervical adjusting: no one pays closer attention to injury statistics than Malpractic Insurance Carriers. Chiropractors pay the lowest premiums of any physician. Specific safety studies performed by Scott Haldeman MD/DC reviewed malpractice claims over a ten year period for 134.5 million cervical manipulations showed 23 cases of stroke or vertebral artery dissection and of this group 10 of the patients had complicating facors of high blood pressure, use of oral contraceptives, and a history of smoking, all of which are associated with vascular disease.

The actual incidence of stroke or VAD following cervical manipulation was found to be one per 5.85 million cervical adjustments. That means the average chiropractor could work for 1430 years before they might be involved with this type of litigation. Chiropractic is very safe.

The World Health Organization states that 1800 class hours in manipulation are necessary before medical doctors can claim to offer chiropractic manipulation. In the last five years, other professionals have been manipulating.  If they do, they should be held to the high standands of the chiropractic profession.

Haas Chiropractic Clinic has always had high standards on initial and followup examinations. This is what is best for the safety and outcomes of our patients. You wouldn't build a house without a plan, and you don't start treating without an examination first. The more information we have on the patient, the better we are able to serve their needs.

Dr. Richard W. Haas DC, FACO

Tension headaches are a pain in the head due to a variety of different reasons. This type of headache is most commonly located at the scalp, temples or the back of the neck.

Tension headaches are a very common health complaint which I find on over 50% of my patients' case history forms. Some patients have had headaches so long and so frequently that it is just normal for them to have headaches.

I would like to talk about the most common causes and the treatments we use at our office for tension headaches.

When patients come to our office for help with headaches, diagnosing the cause is like pealing an onion because the causes are so diverse. Usually, I start with Chiropractic care because that is our foundation of treatment. I don't promise anything, however, most patients get better with Chiropractic care alone.

If the spinal bones of the neck are not moving or supporting the head properly, these misalignments can affect nerves, muscles, and even blood supply to your head.

There can also be a compensation reaction by structural imbalances in the pelvis and lower back which causes the upper spine and neck to put the head off center causing headaches.

The second area I look at is dehydration. Just not drinking enough filtered water can cause headaches. Water is a great diluter and detoxifier.

The next cause would come from the diet. What we eat cancause headaches, such as food allergies/sensitivites (usually it's your favorite food). Also, refined foods including caffine, soda poop, chocolate, all food additives, dairy products, red meats and alcohol.

This usually takes care of over 90% of the tension related headaches, however some other possible causes are: stress/anxiety, hormone imbalances, smoking, poor posture, toxic colon, candida, eye strain, artificial sweeteners, poor diet, heavy metal toxicity, TMJ disfunction, drug withdrawl, poor sleeping patterns, constipation, vitamin A overdosing and high blood pressure.

For most people tension headaches are not something you have to live with. Check out our web-site for more information on how you can be helped.

Dr. Richard Haas