Humble Chiropractic Beginnings

Chiropractic care dates back to the time of the ancient Greek philosophers. Hippocrates once said, "Get knowledge of the spine, for this is the requisite for many diseases".

Today's modern chiropractic techniques date back the late 1800s when Daniel David Palmer, performed the first spinal manipulation on a patient.

That patient was Harvey Lillard, a janitor who worked in Palmer's building. Lillard was nearly deaf, and mentioned to Palmer that his hearing loss, many years previous was a result of bending over. In doing so he had felt a "pop" in his upper back.

Palmer born in Pickering Ontario on March 7, 1845, was a self-educated teacher, healer and practitioner of magnet therapy (a common therapy of the time). He was quite knowledgeable in anatomy and very interested in how the spine interacts with the rest of the body's systems. He felt strongly that the two events - the "popping" Harvey had felt in his back and his deafness - must somehow be related. He examined Lillard's spine and found that one of his vertebra was misaligned.

After applying pressure to the appropriate areas, Palmer returned Lillard's vertebra to the correct position and Lillard's hearing was restored! This procedure has since become known as a chiropractic adjustment.

Palmer soon realized that spinal adjustments would correct misaligned vertebra, eliminate nerve interference and relieve the pain patients experienced due to these ailments. Misaligned vertebrae have been classified as subluxations. He began to use his technique to treat a variety of ailments including heart ailments, epilepsy, sciatica, migraine headaches and stomach complaints. In 1898, he opened the Palmer School & Infirmary of Chiropractic and began teaching the art of chiropractic to others.

The medical community of the day, did not immediately embrace Palmer's chiropractic theories and techniques. They called him a "quack" and refused to acknowledge his accomplishments. In fact, in 1906 D.D. Palmer was even indicted for "practicing medicine without a license" and spent 23-days in jail for his offense.

Hundreds of early chiropractors chose to spend time in jail to defend their chiropractic principles. Early Chiropractors were blatantly shunned and often jailed. Today, due to the progress and advancement of the profession, our colleges, associations and individual practitioners are playing an ever-increasing role in community leadership.

While D. D. Palmer did not live to see his discoveries become accepted by the medical community, his son B.J. Palmer carried on his father's devotion and advanced the practice of chiropractic by getting it recognized as a licensed profession and establishing the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, one of the premier chiropractic colleges in the United States.

Today, chiropractors are licensed in every state with over 50,000 practicing chiropractors in the U.S. alone. Chiropractic continues to gain wide acceptance by the medical, legal, and patient communities. Chiropractic has also been found to be useful in veterinary medicine utilizing chiropractic techniques to treat animals.

Chiropractic has come a long way since it's beginnings, though the basic philosophy remains the same: the nervous system is involved in all bodily functions. A healthy nervous system, particularly a healthy spine, is a major key to wellness. Disorders of the bones and muscles can cause interference and increases the risk of disease and other health problems. Only by diagnosing and eliminating this interference, can health be restored.