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| On
September 18th, 1895, a practitioner named Daniel David Palmer was
working as a magnetic healer in Davenport, Iowa. Harvey Lillard
worked as a janitor in the same offices where Palmer worked. Several
years earlier, Harvey had lost his hearing so profoundly that he
couldn't even hear loud noises. D.D. Palmer had seen Harvey before,
but on this day he noticed an unusual elevation in his upper spine.
Curious, he convinced Harvey to lie down on a table for examination,
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Daniel David Palmer
(1847-1913) |
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proceeded to move his hands over
Harvey's spine. Stopping on the strange elevation, Palmer then applied
force in an effort to move his spine back to a normal position, and a
remarkable thing happened: Harvey exclaimed that he could hear! It
was then that modern Chiropractic Medicine began. D.D. Palmer treated Harvey
several times after that fateful day in 1895, and eventually
Harvey's hearing was fully restored.
D.D. Palmer reasoned that he had just discovered a cure for deafness, and
as any respectable practitioner of the time would, he placed ads in the
newspaper pronouncing the claim. Deaf people came from hundreds of miles
to visit Palmer, but not one of them was cured of their deafness. Then
another strange thing happened: he began to receive letters from his
uncured patients stating that other ailments they had suffered from
had disappeared after his unsuccessful treatment for deafness. D.D.
Palmer began to develop his theory that adjusting the spine could help
with other health problems, and that it was somehow related to the
"compression of spinal nerves." While we now know that spinal nerve tissue
is rarely compressed, D.D. Palmer was on to something. The nerves that
come out of the spine between the vertebrae supply vital electrical
impulses to our bodies that are essential to function, motion and
sensation — indeed, our overall health. The impairment of these nerves can
result in pain, loss of function, and a host of other ailments. The
nervous system has a bigger influence on our body and our health than was
previously believed.D.D. Palmer
also believed our bodies possess an "innate" intelligence, ability and
tendency to strive toward health, and that the nervous system coordinates
the entire process. This is still one of the basic tenets of
Chiropractic Medicine.
Meanwhile, D.D. Palmer turned to one of
his patients, Rev Samuel Weed, who coined the term Chiropractic
from the appropriate Greek words "Cheiro" (hand) and "Praktis" (done by).
Over the next 50 years Chiropractic
healing grew in popularity due to the relentlessness and persistent
salesmanship of of D.D. Palmer's son, Bartlett J. Palmer. He promoted
Chiropractic through the first Chiropractic College, founded by D.D Palmer
in 1896. He also broadcast the word about Chiropractic through two radio
stations that he owned. B.J. Palmer played host to presidents and business
leaders from all over the world, including Herbert Hoover, Harry Houdini,
Jack Dempsey and Ronald Reagan. While his father founded Chiropractic, B.J.
Palmer ensured its survival, growth and dominance in the non-medicated
health care field.
"There is a vast
difference between treating the effects and adjusting the cause."
"Chiropractors do not
treat diseases; they adjust causes..."
D.D. Palmer |
