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Chiropractic History - The kind of story Hollywood filmmakers would love
The first generation
Chiropractic started in 1895 when its inventor, Dr. Daniel Palmer (1845 - 1913) discovered what he believed to be the cause of all ailments and its cure.
A grocer born in Ontario, Canada who settled in Davenport, Iowa, Daniel Palmer had opened a “magnetic studio” to treat the sick and to try find the cause of disease.
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..It was said that he became to hate his son and other chiropractors, died penniless and left specific orders that the son not be allowed to attend his funeral
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One day in September 1895 he treated his janitor named Harvey Lillard, who had been deaf for seventeen years. In his autobiography, Palmer said he was curious with the fact that when the janitor stooped, he (the janitor) “felt something give way in his back and immediately became deaf”. Upon examining the man, Palmer was certain that there’s something wrong with the man’s back and this could be a cause that led to his problem. A keen student of human anatomy, Palmer said, “I reasoned that if the vertebra was replaced, the man’s hearing should be restore”. After persuading the man, Palmer was able to make the man lie down on his stomach and applied a firm pressure to the spine with his hands. The vertebrata was moved to its place and miraculously the man could hear after being deaf for so long!
The rise and fall
A second success was with a patient with heart trouble. With only these two successful treatments, however, he concluded, “a subluxed vertebrata, a vertebral bone, is the cause of 95 % of all diseases”.
Palmer was so impressed by his discovery that he asked a friend and patient, Rev. Samuel Weed, to help him named it. This discovery was dubbed by this fellow resident of Davenport as “chiropractic”, a Greek term that means “ done by hand”. With these two medical success, Palmer decided to open the Palmer School of Chiropractic before the end of 1895 with the fee of $450 (a further discount of $50 if you pay by cash).
The year 1906 was an unfortunate year for him. Palmer and his son (which is his most important student) were arrested for practicing medicine without a license. The father was sent to trial first and went to jail. The son, Bartlett Joshua (or B.J Palmer) never turned up. This incident created a big row between the son and father. After Daniel Palmer was released he sold the business to the son, left the city and wandered around the United States until his death. It was said that he became to hate his son and other chiropractors, died penniless and left specific orders that the son not be allowed to attend his funeral
The next generation
The son, B.J Palmer marketed the school aggressively, emphasizing the lack of exams or entry requirement, and was considered to be some sort of marketing genius. Throughout his life, he stick with is father’s dogma that all disease started with vertebrata problem and to cure problems, the vertebrata needs to be adjusted.
Ironically, the man himself went to see medical doctors when he was sick.
The Crack
Soon afterward, some practitioners refused to hold to the dogma and some believed that chiropractors should also use other way of treatment in curing illness. Willard Carver, was one of the disciples who believed in this and started his own chiropractic school based on the new idea. This created row between the 2 branches of practice. The division exists until today with the Palmer follower calling themselves Straight and those believing in Carver called themselves Mixers.
When B.J Palmer died in 1961, he was a multimillionaire who had successfully built chiropractic into a hugely successful venture. After he died, his son gave a new breath to the school. He made it more organized, professional and work hard in changing the practice’s image.
Legal battle
It may be popular nowadays but during the 1960s doctors were so skeptical of chiropractic, American Medical Association condemned it as an unscientific cult. A 12 years legal battle ensued, which the association lost in 1987.
Nowadays
Nowadays, chiropractic is generally accepted remedy for bone and muscular problem and majority of doctors would be happy to accept a chiropractor’s diagnosis and treatment regardless of it's almost quackery-like history.
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