A Brief History of Chiropractic
/Some of the earliest healing arts in history understood the relationship between the spine and overall health. Though care of the spine and nervous system was still crude and misunderstood at the time, Artistotle was critical of Herodotus for his approach because, “he made old men young and thus prolonged their lives too greatly.” It was not well understood until Daniel David (D.D.) Palmer discovered the specific adjustment and defined Chiropractic.
“Look well to the spine for the cause of disease.” - Hippocrates
D.D. Palmer, Founder of Chiropractic
D.D. Palmer was born in Ontario, Canada and moved to the United States when he was 20 years old. He taught in schools, raised bees, and sold groceries along the Mississippi River. He eventually learned techniques of Magnetic Healing from Paul Caster and moved to Davenport, Iowa to practice those methods.
On September 18, 1895 D.D. Palmer performed the first specific chiropractic adjustment on a janitor in his office building, named Harvey Lillard. Mr. Lillard had suffered from hearing loss that initially began one evening when he was in a cramped, stooped position, and felt something ‘pop’ in his back. Dr. Palmer deduced that the popping in his back and the deafness had to be connected. Dr. Palmer asked Mr. Lillard if he could examine is his spine.
Harvey Lillard, First Patient
“I was deaf 17 years and I expected to always remain so, for I had doctored a great deal without any benefit. I had long ago made up my mind to not take any more ear treatments, for it did me no good. Last January, Dr. Palmer told me that deafness came from an injury in my spine. This was new to me; but it is a fact that my back was injured at the time I went deaf. After a few adjustments I could hear quite well. That was eight months ago. My hearing remains good.” - Harvey Lillard
Word of Palmer’s success in “curing” deafness traveled fast. Soon people with deafness from across the country were awaiting his miraculous care. Over the succeeding months, he realized that many other conditions were benefiting from chiropractic care but not every case with the same quick results.
D.D. Palmer, with the help of Reverend Samuel Weed, coined the term Chiropractic from the Greek words cheir meaning “by hand” and praktos meaning “done”.
In 1897, D.D. Palmer abandoned magnetic healing and began teaching his new found methods. Often surprised at the effectiveness of his adjustments, he returned to his studies of anatomy and physiology to learn more about the vital connection between the spine and nervous system. He realized that every spinal adjustment was eliminating nerve interference that caused the patient’s complaints. One-third of the first chiropractic graduating class were medical doctors.
Although Chiropractic was proving to be a successful way of healing, it was not readily accepted. The medical community at the turn of the 20th century was afraid of Dr. Palmer’s success and began to campaign by writing letters to local papers and accusing him of practicing medicine without a license. Common medical practices at the time relied on symptomatic treatment consisting primarily of bloodletting, blistering, and high doses of mineral poisons. These medical regimens resulted in high rates of death in patients. This often lead the public to seek alternate healing options. It was not uncommon for women to have home births during this time period.
In 1906, D.D. was indicted for practicing medicine without a license. He was sentenced to 105 days in jail and was required to pay a $350 fine. His patients came to his jail cell to get their adjustments. At least 672 chiropractors were arrested and jailed for practicing chiropractic or "medicine" without a license over the course of several decades.
Patients protest outside the Ohio jail where their doctor, Herbert R. Reaver, DC, was imprisoned
“The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.” - Thomas Edison
Dr. Mabel (Left) and Dr. B.J. Palmer (Right)
At one point, the amount of pressure in the state of Iowa on D.D. Palmer became too much that he passed along the responsibilities of the school to his son, B.J. Palmer and traveled West to Oklahoma, Oregon, and California where he set up new schools in each location and continued to spread the message of chiropractic.
B.J. Palmer and his wife, Mabel Palmer were early graduates of the Palmer school and were instrumental in getting chiropractic recognized as a separate licensed profession. B.J. Palmer carried the torch at the “Fountainhead of Chiropractic” for the next sixty years.
Due to the high amounts of criticism, B.J. created the Universal Chiropractic Association (UCA) in order to defend and help provide financial support for chiropractors around the country needing legal support should they get arrested. Its first notable case came in 1907, when Shegataro Morikubo, DC of Wisconsin was charged with unlicensed practice of osteopathic medicine. It was a test of the new osteopathic law. In an ironic twist, Wisconsin state attorney Tom Morris legally differentiated chiropractic from osteopathy by the differences in the philosophy of chiropractic's "supremacy of the nerve" and osteopathy's "supremacy of the artery". Dr. Morikubo was freed, and the victory reshaped the development of the chiropractic profession, which then marketed itself as a distinct science, art, and philosophy just the way that D.D. Palmer had envisioned. Today, chiropractic has separate licensing passed in all 50 states and is legally recognized across the globe.
In 1924, B.J. purchased the first radio station west of the Mississippi, located in Davenport, IA. In 1928, he acquired another in Des Moines, IA. These 50,000 watt stations drew listeners from all over the country and reached as far as England. B.J. Palmer was a dynamic author and speaker, he loved to travel, and was considered a brilliant salesman when it came to chiropractic. Through his leadership, chiropractic became the first health care profession to regularly use, Wilhelm Roentgen’s invention, the x-ray machine. This improved the science and accuracy of chiropractic.
“The power that made the body, heals the body.” - B.J. Palmer
CLEAR VIEW SANITARIUM
In 1926, Dr. B.J. opened the Clear View Sanitarium, and it operated until 1961. This was a mental health asylum that was far from the traditional medical asylums that often left patients there to die if the lobotomy and heavy medication doses didn’t work. B.J. felt they were mistreating patients and decided to open his own and work the patients back to normal life with chiropractic care. B.J. Palmer had medical doctors on staff in order to help wean patients off their medications as he and his chiropractic staff identified their subluxations and started correcting them. It was recorded that 85% of cases got well and were able to return to their normal lives. The cases consisted of approximately 65% schizophrenia, 15% manic-depressive, and 20% other nervous and mental disorders.
“There is a vast difference between treating effects and adjusting the cause.” - D.D. Palmer
Palmer Clinic gardens
In 1935, The B.J. Palmer Research Clinic opened on the Palmer Campus and many patients from around the world traveled to visit the clinic and would stay for multiple weeks or months to receive care daily. The patients were examined by medical doctors but only received chiropractic care. After receiving chiropractic care, patients were encouraged to spend time in the clinic gardens which were designed for relaxation alongside many artifacts B.J. collected from his travels around the world.
The Palmer campus was a tourist attraction for many people that heard of chiropractic on the radio or one of the infamous lectures given by Dr. B.J. Palmer. In addition to the vast number of artifacts from across the globe, the Palmer family had a collection containing an estimated 25,000 specimens that represented ordinary bones as well as cases of disease, trauma, and congenital malformations used to study and investigate the human body.
“Medicine is the study of disease and what causes as man to die. Chiropractic is the study of health and what causes a man to live.” - B.J. Palmer
COVER of AMA Book CLAIMING IT WAS TRYING TO ERADICATE THE CHIROPRACTIC PROFESSION
By the 1950’s profits from penicillin, polio vaccines, and others were virtually eliminating all homeopathic professions except for chiropractic. Full speed ahead, medicine introduced chemo and other radiation therapies, surgeries, and all the drugs. Not long after, the American Medical Association (AMA) formed a Committee on Quackery under the Department of Investigation and began a discrimination campaign against the chiropractic profession, which led to policies restricting even patient referrals. In 1976, a group of chiropractors, led by Dr. Chester Wilk, filed a lawsuit against the AMA. In 1987, the US District Judge charged the AMA with violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. The suit also named the American Hospital Association, the American College of Surgeons, the American College of Physicians, and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals. The court held that the AMA and its members constituted a conspiracy with the purpose to eliminate chiropractic. It also claimed the AMA suppressed research favorable to chiropractors, undermined colleges and educational institutions from cooperation with chiropractors, and orchestrated a massive public relations campaign claiming chiropractors were “non-scientific”. The judge ordered the AMA to inform all of their members of the outcome and acknowledge that it is illegal for medical doctors to attack chiropractic and to pay a fine to many chiropractic schools and organizations for the damage that had been caused. The litigation started as early as 1962 when the Iowa Medical Society adopted the “Iowa Plan” which policy stated it will persistently, and from behind-the-scenes, encourage ethical complaints against chiropractors, oppose chiropractic entrance into hospitals, contain chiropractic school education and promotion, and oppose chiropractic via health insurance, workman’s compensation, and labor unions. This attempt to contain and eliminate the chiropractic profession was a tumultuous time for health care and we are still experiencing the ramifications many years later.
Today, Chiropractic is recognized as the third largest healthcare profession in the world and the fastest growing. Though the leadership has changed and evolved over the years, the principles have remained the same. As scientific research and technological advancements continue to confirm and improve upon D.D. Palmer’s original theory 120+ years ago, we continue to see the growth of the profession in the midst of many differing opinions.
The nervous system controls and coordinates every muscle, cell, organ, and tissue in the body. The body is a self-healing organism and continues to do so when there is no interference or subluxation present. This scientific foundation is the reason why chiropractic is effective and continues to positively affect the lives of millions every day.
