The Birth Of Chiropractic
September 18, 1895, marked the official birth of chiropractic. This date is attributed to the founding father, D.D. Palmer, who gave the first recorded adjustment to Harvey Lillard in Davenport, Iowa. Harvey Lillard had lost most of his hearing at a young age. The adjustment that D.D. Palmer performed on Lillard almost completely restored his hearing back to normal. In the early days the principles of chiropractic were very simple. They consisted of merely locating bumps along the center of the patient’s back and forcibly reducing them with a shove or a push. It was not until 1904-1905 that chiropractic was ingrained and seriously taught as a science, art and philosophy of the healing arts.
Back Up Just A Little Bit In Time
The first recorded adjustment was in 1895 in Davenport, Iowa. However, spinal manipulation existed WAY BEFORE D.D. Palmer was around. Enter Hippocrates. Hippocrates stressed the importance and teachings of writings we know today as aphorisms. These aphorisms taught not to interfere or hinder, in any way, nature’s attempt towards recovery. Hippocrates recognized the importance of spinal manipulation. Hippocrates taught that nature must heal and that the physician can only remove the obstruction (subluxation). Much of chiropractic’s patient-centered approach can be linked to Hippocratic roots.
Fast forward to Claudius Galen, 130 – 200 A.D. He was considered the first to teach the proper positions and relations of the vertebrae. Galen, like Hippocrates, recognized the importance of the nerve system. He stressed the importance to his students that the nerve system was the key to maximum health. Around the same time of Galen, Chang-Chung-King, referred to by medical science as the “Chinese Hippocrates”, stressed the importance of observing the patient as opposed to treating the symptom as for each disease. The list of healers, philosophies and education goes on and on. Looking to spine is not a “new” trend. The primary focus of chiropractic is simply to remove the things that interfere with the body’s natural normal healing ability. #getchecked
