Chiropractic History

Chiropractic was developed in 1895 in Davenport, Iowa, U.S.A, when a janitor, Harvey Lillard, complained of a sore neck. His boss, DD Palmer, who was a 'healer' at the time, examined him and found that he had a functional problem in his neck. He postulated that if the bones in the spine were jammed up they would irritate the spinal nerves, and this could cause pain in the neck. So DD Palmer performed a manipulation of the neck and the neck pain was relieved.

The surprising thing was that Harvey Lillard, who had been deaf for many years since a major fall, had his hearing restored. DD Palmer thought he had a miraculous cure for deafness, so he explained what had happened and lots of people came to see him for help with their deafness. It is unclear whether any had their hearing improved, but other aspects of their health did improve. Over the next few years DD Palmer realised that 'Chiropractic' as it became named, was a not a treatment for deafness, but a system of improving the function of the spine and therefore the spinal nerves, which allows people to feel and function better. Since 1895 chiropractic has grown into the third largest health care profession in the Western world, behind medicine and dentistry.