| 2650 B.C. | First recorded manipulation found in Kong Fu writings |
| 1500 B.C. | Greek history recorded, lower back manipulation |
| 500 B.C. | Hippocrates writes two works on manipulation and the nervous system |
| 195 | Galen discovered the relationship between the nervous system of the spine and healing |
| 1845 | Daniel David Palmer was born in Ontario Canada |
| 1895 | Daniel David Palmer delivered the first chiropractic adjustment to Harvey Lillard in Davenport Iowa |
| 1902 | First 15 students graduate from Palmer School of Magnetic Cure, including Bartlett Joshua Palmer |
| 1904 | Daniel David Palmer changes name of school to Palmer School of Chiropractic |
| 1905 | Mabel Heath Palmer graduates from Palmer School of Chiropractic |
| 1913 | State of Kansas was the first state to license Chiropractors |
| 1913 | Daniel David Palmer dies |
| 1927 | Chiropractic is licensed by 39 states |
| 1944 | G.I. bill allowed veterans to study chiropractic after service |
| 1961 | Bartlett Joshua Palmer dies |
| 1961 | David Daniel Palmer becomes President of and changes the name to Palmer College of Chiropractic |
| 1972 | Congress votes to include chiropractic under Medicare |
| 1974 | Louisiana becomes the last remaining state to license chiropractic |
| 1978 | David Daniel Palmer dies |
|
1995 |
Chiropractic celebrates its centennial in Washington DC and in Davenport, Iowa the birthplace of chiropractic |
The actual profession of Chiropractic – as a distinct form of health care – dates back to its discovery in 1895. However, history has recorded that some of the earliest healers understood the relationship between health and the condition of the spine.
The first known recorded manipulation was described in an ancient text dating back to 2650 B.C. my travelers to Asia. Some of these findings show that Kong Fu writings described tissue manipulation as part of therapy.
Most cultures practicing medicine have some ancient writings dealing with the spine and its effect on the body. Many cultures spoke of massaging the back or even back walking, a practice of laying a patient or family member on their belly and slowly walking bare foot up and down their back. American Indians used to have small children walk on the backs of the sick. There are even records of the South American Incas using manipulation as a form of healing.
As far back as 1500 B.C., the Greeks were recording their successes in lower back treatments.
Hippocrates was quoted in his many writings, which can be found in a book called Manipulation and Importance of Good Health and another called Setting Joints by Leverage. These works were written some time in the 500 B.C.’s. Hippocrates wrote: “Get knowledge of the spine, for this is the requisite for many diseases.”
Another famous Greek Physician, Claudius Galen, wrote early in the second century, “Look to the nervous system as the key to maximum health.” Galen was made famous for treating a scholar named Eudemus. Galen adjusted Eudemus’ neck, which apparently cured a paralysis of the scholar’s hand and arm.
Herodotus, gained fame curing diseases by correcting spinal abnormalities through therapeutic exercises. Aristotle was critical of Herodotus’ tonic-free approach because, “he made old men young and thus prolonged their lives too greatly.”
The fall of the Roman Empire and the destruction of the scholastic institutes are traced back in time as the reason for the set back of what is now modern day chiropractic. Luckily some of the techniques were handed down form generation to generation and there are recorded cases of European “bone setters” performing amazing acts of healing.
From the 11th through 15th centuries, “back walking” was practiced in Asia and Europe. It is also believed that European gypsies used back walking as a cure for the sick.
In the 1800’s medical doctors in Europe shunned the art of “bone setting.” But in 1867, a famous surgeon, Sir James Paget, recognized the evolving art in his article in the British Medical Journal entitled, Cases That Bone Setting Cures. He described the types of spinal manipulation known at that time.
Daniel David Palmer, known as D.D., was born in Port Perry, Ontario Canada on March 7, 1845. Palmer’s family moved to the United States when he was eleven, but Daniel and his younger brother stayed behind. In 1865 Daniel Palmer and his brother left Canada and rejoined their family in Iowa.
Daniel Palmer moved around the Midwest and worked in a variety of professions such as teaching, bee keeping and running a grocery store.
As a self-educated man, Daniel Palmer studied the art of magnetic healing, a hands on and drug free therapy based on a belief that magnetic field surrounds the body and that minor illnesses could be cured by influencing that force.
Daniel Palmer opened his first medical practice in Burlington Iowa in 1887. Later he moved his office and 14-room infirmary to Davenport, Iowa.
September 18, 1895 is the date when Chiropractic was officially discovered. Daniel Palmer describes the account of what happened on that day in his book The Chiropractor’s Adjuster (also called the Text-Book of the Science, Art and Philosophy of Chiropractic). The book was first published in 1910 by the Portland Printing House Company of Portland, Oregon, and reprinted in 1966 by his grandson, David D. Palmer.
“Harvey Lillard, a janitor, in the Ryan Block, where I had my office, had been so deaf for 17 years that he could not hear the racket of a wagon on the street or the ticking of a watch. I made inquiry as to the cause of his deafness and was informed that when he was exerting himself in a cramped, stooping position, he felt something give way in his back and immediately became deaf. An examination showed a vertebra racked from its normal position. I reasoned that if that vertebra was replaced, the man’s hearing should be restored. I racked it into position by using the spinous process as a lever and soon the man could hear as before. There was nothing “accidental” about this, as it was accomplished with an object in view, and the result expected was obtained. There was nothing “crude” about this adjustment; it was specific, so much so that no Chiropractor has equaled it.”
In 1895, Daniel Palmer opened the Palmer School of Chiropractic and began teaching his recently discovered techniques. This college still exists today, with a fully accredited program. One of his first students was his son, Bartlett Joshua Palmer.
Daniel D. Palmer died in Los Angeles at the age of 68 in 1913.
One of Daniel Palmer’s patients and a friend, Reverend Samuel Weed, is credited with creating the name “Chiropractic.” for this new art and science of manipulation. He took the Greek words of “hand” (cheiros) and “done by” (praktos) and put them together to create Chiropractor, meaning “done by hand”.
Bartlett Joshua Palmer, Bartlett, or B.J. as he is known, was just as enthusiastic about chiropractic as his father and he continued his father’s work. Bartlett is credited with developing chiropractic into a clearly defined and unique health care system.
Bartlett graduated from the Palmer school 1902. Bartlett began helping patients, along with his wife Mabel a fellow graduate, and took on responsibility of the school in 1904.
Bartlett’s contributions included extensive research, improved methods of spinal adjusting and analysis, higher standards for chiropractic education and was instrumental in getting chiropractic recognized as a licensed profession. Bartlett’s patients included U.S. Presidents and business leaders from around the world. Ronald Regan, Houdini, Herbert Hoover, Jack Dempsey and Harry Truman were all guests in his home.
Bartlett also owned several radio stations and is credited for coining the phrase “broadcasting”. His first station was WOC (Wonders of Chiropractic) and in 1928 he purchased WHO (With Hands Only) in Des Moines.
Bartlett helped his father build Palmer College in Davenport, Iowa into one of the largest chiropractic colleges in the United States. The college grew from 24 students in 1906 to 3,100 in 1923. Today, there are over 25 chiropractic institutions throughout the world and at any given time more than 10,000 students.
Bartlett was also known for his epigrams (a concisely written thought that deals pointedly, and often satirically, with a single event or idea and often ends with an ingenious turn of phrase). His collection of epigrams, entitled As a Man Thinketh, comprises thousands he wrote throughout his life. Many of his epigrams appeared inside and outside buildings on the Palmer College of Chiropractic campus.
Here are a few examples of his epigrams:
· Youth is curious, and success is a game for curious seekers. Stay young!
· Throw away your wishbone, straighten up your backbone, stick out your jawbone and go to it.
· When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.
· Chiropractic is health insurance. Premiums small. Dividends large.
Bartlett Palmer died in 1961.
Mabel Heath Palmer became a doctor of chiropractic in 1905. She is known as a guiding influence in Bartlett Palmer’s life as well as a recognized authority on anatomy and instructed at the school for more than 30 years. She was a close and valued adviser to her husband in all phases of the chiropractic profession.
David Palmer, the grandson of chiropractic’s founder, assumed the presidency of Palmer School of Chiropractic in 1961. He changed the name of the college to Palmer College of Chiropractic, modernized the campus, obtained non-profit status for the college and organized the Palmer College of Chiropractic International Alumni Association.
David Palmer died in 1978.
In the United States today, there are over 58,000 licensed and practicing chiropractors. People seek chiropractic treatment for back pain, neck pain, headaches, and overall improvement of their health.