History of Chiropractic
February 7, 2008
Most people who have never been to a chiropractor think chiropractic is for bad backs. Hopefully you (patients of this office) realize it’s much bigger than that, but let’s look at how it all got started.
Chiropractic was discovered in 1895 by DD Palmer. He had an office in a building in Davenport, Iowa. Harvey Lillard, the building janitor, had been almost completely deaf for 17 years since falling down a flight of stairs. Upon inquiring about his condition, Palmer examined him and noticed a lump on his back indicating a misaligned vertebrae. Upon the application of the first specific adjustment ever, the janitor regained full hearing. At first DD thought he had discovered the cure for deafness, but he quickly realized this wasn’t the case and developed the founding principles of chiropractic based on his discovery.
- The human spine is vulnerable to misalignments caused by injury or illness. These misalignments were termed vertebral subluxations.
- The resulting interference or damage may affect the nerves leading from the spinal cord to vital organs controlling bodily functions, placing stress on the body’s systems and causing ill health.
- A Doctor of Chiropractic is uniquely trained to locate and correct subluxations relieving nerve interference, restoring the body to its natural God given potential for health and function.
Here’s a newer definition from a 1927 Chiropractic textbook:
“Chiropractic is a philosophy, science and art of all things natural; a system of adjusting the segments of the spinal column by hand only, for the correction of the cause of dis-ease.”
Dr. Palmer saw many patients get well from many things through his early form of Chiropractic. He opened a school in Davenport Iowa in the early 20th century and the profession of Chiropractic was born. While DD is called the discoverer of Chiropractic, his son BJ is considered to be the developer of what chiropractic is today.
The Palmer School of Chiropractic is still one of the largest Chiropractic institutions and is still in Davenport, Iowa.
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