Chiropractic care has been administered since the beginning of recorded time. Chinese and Greek people from 2700 B.C. have been administering spinal manipulation and maneuvering the lower extremities to ease lower back pain. Hippocrates (460 to 357 .C.), the Greek physician published texts about the importance of chiropractic care.
History of Chiropractic:
Harvey Lillard
The first recorded chiropractic adjustment happened in 1895 by Dr. Daniel David Palmer in Davenport, Iowa on his patient Harvey Lillard, a janitor working in the same building. Dr. Palmer discovered a lump on Mr. Lillard’s back and thought that a vertebra was out of place. When he repositioned the vertebra with a gentle thrust, after this Mr. Lillard’s hearing was restored. Since then the science of chiropractic care has progressed significantly. This has lead to the modern day advanced diagnostic procedures, sophisticated equipment, research and growing acceptance among health care professionals about the benefits of chiropractic care.
David (D.D.) Palmer
Palmer came up with the term ‘chiropractic’, which literally means ‘done by hand’ to refer the new therapy. He argued that all diseases could be traced back to subluxated bones, which are mostly the spinal bones. These disrupt the flow of innate intelligence. Research has subsequently been done regarding this theory.
The early nineteenth century saw the rise of patent medicine and nostrum remedium trade. The rise of dangerous medicines gave way to less risky treatment procedures like homeopathy and eclectic medicine. In 1849 the American Medical Association established a board to analyse the nature of these alternative treatments. It recognized chiropractic treatment much later.
B.J. Palmer
Chiropractic was controversial since its inception. The AMA did not issue licenses for chiropractors till the late twentieth century. It was D.D. Palmer’s son B.J. Palmer who got recognition for chiropractic practitioners. B.J. worked to bridge the gap between other medical practitioners by opening them up to the alternative practices and he also got chiropractic practitioners to accept and use the mechanics of regular medicine. He started research to test chiropractic theories in the B.J.Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport. But serious research to test these theories did not begin until the 1970s. In 1975 the National Institutes of Health brought chiropractors, osteopaths, medical doctors and PhD scientists together in a conference on spinal manipulation. In 1978 the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics was launched.
It was by the mid 1990s that chiropractic care was taken seriously and invited scholarly interest. A study published in Canada in 1993 concluded that chiropractic care saved hundreds of millions of dollars in work disability payments and direct healthcare costs. Ever since chiropractic care has found increasing acceptance in the lives of the common man and stood its ground in the medical profession.
Chiropractors are leading the way in the field of noninvasive care by constant research and innovative combinations of traditional medical care with new methods. Chiropractors help re-align the body to its original non-obtrusive functioning. This helps he body heal itself and not depend too much on external stimuli. Chiropractors can treat not just spine related ailments but also allergies, asthma, digestive disorders, bone fractures, and so on.
Photo Credit for all photos:
http://rioranchochiropractic.com/discovery-center/chiropractic-history/