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THE CHIROPRACTIC STORY
The discovery of chiropractic occurred a little more than a hundred years ago. At that time Dr. Daniel David Palmer enjoyed a thriving practice in Davenport, Iowa.
Despite his successful practice, Dr. Palmer kept asking himself, "Why do some people become ill while others remain healthy?" He knew toxins, poisons, germs, and bacteria could cause disease. However, those causes failed to explain the vast majority of the health problems seen in his patients. He wondered if there might be some still undetected, common denominator which could explain the wide gamut of human illness.
One September day in 1895 Dr. Palmer was trying to carry on a conversation with Mr. Harvey Lillard, the janitor in his building. Harvey had been almost deaf for many years. He told Dr. Palmer that 17 years earlier while working in a stooped, cramped position he heard and felt something "pop" in his back. After that he began to lose his hearing.
Dr. Palmer examined Harvey's spine and discovered a misaligned vertebra at the very spot where Harvey remembered feeling something "pop" 17 years before. Dr. Palmer theorized if the vertebra "popped" out of place and caused Harvey to lose his hearing, then if he could adjust the vertebra back to its normal position, perhaps Harvey's hearing could be restored.
Dr. Palmer asked Harvey to lie face down across two office chairs. Then Dr. Palmer with a quick thrust of his hands realigned the malpositioned vertebra. Surprisingly, the vertebra slid rather easily back into its normal position, with no pain or discomfort. Harvey was thrilled when, within a short time, his hearing was restored.
Dr. Palmer, too, was excited. He wondered if any other conditions or maladies that beset mankind might be caused by spinal misalignments. That was the beginning of his research and testing with patients. Dr. Palmer soon found that correcting spinal misalignments often resulted in the reduction or elimination of a variety of health problems.
As time went on, Dr. Palmer formulated a theory to explain how misaligned vertebras could cause dysfunction, disease, and ailments in various parts of the body remote from the area of the spinal misalignments.
Briefly, Dr. Palmer theorized that because spinal misalignments are in such close proximity to adjacent nerve branches, such misalignments could compress, stretch, or irritate nerves - and, thereby, cause malfunctions involving parts or organs of the body supplied by the affected nerves.
As his fame spread, he soon began teaching others his methods and techniques. Many of his first students were already established doctors - but it soon became clear that the demand for chiropractic treatments exceeded the supply of those trained to give those treatments. This led to the establishment of the first chiropractic college.
The positive results of chiropractic treatments were so outstanding that chiropractic as a profession grew like wildfire. From that humble beginning of only one doctor and one patient, chiropractic has grown into a worldwide profession.
Today, in the United States, chiropractic doctors are licensed in all 50 states. Chiropractic is recognized by the federal government - as well as state governments. There are now more than 60,000 practitioners in the United States - and 16 colleges. There is an active chiropractic patient-base of more than 30 million patients under care. It has been estimated that as many as 1 out of every 6 Americans have received chiropractic treatment - and that number is growing at a rapid rate.
Despite his successful practice, Dr. Palmer kept asking himself, "Why do some people become ill while others remain healthy?" He knew toxins, poisons, germs, and bacteria could cause disease. However, those causes failed to explain the vast majority of the health problems seen in his patients. He wondered if there might be some still undetected, common denominator which could explain the wide gamut of human illness.
One September day in 1895 Dr. Palmer was trying to carry on a conversation with Mr. Harvey Lillard, the janitor in his building. Harvey had been almost deaf for many years. He told Dr. Palmer that 17 years earlier while working in a stooped, cramped position he heard and felt something "pop" in his back. After that he began to lose his hearing.
Dr. Palmer examined Harvey's spine and discovered a misaligned vertebra at the very spot where Harvey remembered feeling something "pop" 17 years before. Dr. Palmer theorized if the vertebra "popped" out of place and caused Harvey to lose his hearing, then if he could adjust the vertebra back to its normal position, perhaps Harvey's hearing could be restored.
Dr. Palmer asked Harvey to lie face down across two office chairs. Then Dr. Palmer with a quick thrust of his hands realigned the malpositioned vertebra. Surprisingly, the vertebra slid rather easily back into its normal position, with no pain or discomfort. Harvey was thrilled when, within a short time, his hearing was restored.
Dr. Palmer, too, was excited. He wondered if any other conditions or maladies that beset mankind might be caused by spinal misalignments. That was the beginning of his research and testing with patients. Dr. Palmer soon found that correcting spinal misalignments often resulted in the reduction or elimination of a variety of health problems.
As time went on, Dr. Palmer formulated a theory to explain how misaligned vertebras could cause dysfunction, disease, and ailments in various parts of the body remote from the area of the spinal misalignments.
Briefly, Dr. Palmer theorized that because spinal misalignments are in such close proximity to adjacent nerve branches, such misalignments could compress, stretch, or irritate nerves - and, thereby, cause malfunctions involving parts or organs of the body supplied by the affected nerves.
As his fame spread, he soon began teaching others his methods and techniques. Many of his first students were already established doctors - but it soon became clear that the demand for chiropractic treatments exceeded the supply of those trained to give those treatments. This led to the establishment of the first chiropractic college.
The positive results of chiropractic treatments were so outstanding that chiropractic as a profession grew like wildfire. From that humble beginning of only one doctor and one patient, chiropractic has grown into a worldwide profession.
Today, in the United States, chiropractic doctors are licensed in all 50 states. Chiropractic is recognized by the federal government - as well as state governments. There are now more than 60,000 practitioners in the United States - and 16 colleges. There is an active chiropractic patient-base of more than 30 million patients under care. It has been estimated that as many as 1 out of every 6 Americans have received chiropractic treatment - and that number is growing at a rapid rate.