This week, our ChiroWay locations celebrate the founding of Chiropractic.

Chiropractic was founded in 1895, but history depicts that the investigation into the relationship between the spine and well-being has taken place for thousands of years. History shows that ancient Egyptian and Indian hieroglyphics focused on influencing spinal alignment to produce health outcomes through crude adjustments and even back walking.

Hippocrates, a Greek physician who authored many books on health, even focused on the relationship between the spine and healing, and was an advocate of the innate healing ability within the body. In his publications, he attributes the spine to being influential for healing, as seen in the following quote: “Look well to the spine for the cause of disease.” —Hippocrates, 460-377 BC

Fast forward through years of crude adjustments until the development of the philosophy and science of chiropractic adjustments were brought on by D.D. Palmer in Davenport Iowa. D.D. Palmer studied the techniques of magnetic healing, which is founded on the philosophy of the body’s natural magnetic properties for healing. Harvey Lillard was a man who worked in the building that D.D. Palmer worked in. Harvey could not hear out of one ear, and the story of how he became deaf lead D.D. Palmer to perform the first chiropractic adjustment.

D.D. Palmer explains:

“I made an 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. With this object in view, a half hour’s talk persuaded Mr. Lillard to allow me to replace it. 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 that no other Chiropractor has equaled it.”

As D.D. Pamer founded the first chiropractic adjustment, it was his son B.J. Palmer who is credited for developing the philosophy, science and art of chiropractic. B.J. Palmer founded a private college in Davenport, Iowa called Palmer College where thousands of students have become Doctors of Chiropractic.

The development of the chiropractic adjustment by B.J. Palmer was tailored around the philosophy and art of locating, analyzing and facilitating the adjustment of vertebral subluxation in the spinal column due to the interference in the mental impulses through the neurological system. This interference causes dis-ease in the body’s inner intelligence that coordinates harmony and health throughout the trillions of cells within the body. Dis-ease is when the body functions at less than its potential and can lead to dysfunction and an overall lack of well-being.

Fast forward to today’s practice of Chiropractic. The philosophy, science and art has a modern approach that views Chiropractic as a health care discipline. It recognizes the innate recuperative power of the body to heal itself through identifying and caring for vertebral subluxations due to the relationship between structure and function as coordinated by the neurological system and how that relationship affects the preservation and restoration of well-being. The preservation and restoration of well-being can be beneficial for all ages and all stages of well-being.

Chiropractic is a proactive approach to enhance your inner potential, schedule your first visit today!