Happy Birthday Chiropractic!!!

This September marks the 124th anniversary of the first chiropractic adjustment. The first adjustment was given by D.D. Palmer in Davenport, IA in 1895. The first patient was Harvey Lillard, a deaf man who was the janitor in D.D.’s office building. He had lost his hearing in an accident many years before. After one adjustment, he regained some of his hearing. After several more adjustments, he had regained almost full hearing.

Of course, this was not really the first adjustment. D.D. had been working on his theory about the connection between the nervous system and illness for several years. He had been practicing as a magnetic healer in Davenport when he began to theorize about the effect of the nervous system on the body’s overall function. He began to research and develop the science behind chiropractic. In 1897, he founded Palmer College of Chiropractic. Palmer College is still operating today and is the leading institution for chiropractic education and research. I am a proud Palmer graduate and I loved attending the “Fountainhead of Chiropractic”!

For the next 50 years, D.D., his son B.J. Palmer D.C., and many others continued to research and solidify the science of chiropractic. In 1910, Dr. B.J. Palmer was an early adopter of the new technology of x-ray. This led to greater understanding of the connection between spinal structure and nervous system function. Dr. Palmer’s clinic on the Palmer campus made countless discoveries and attracted patients from all over the world. Dr. Palmer even treated the wife of one the Mayo brothers of the famed Mayo Clinic!

Today, millions of dollars are spent each year on chiropractic research. The United States Department of Defense is a major supporter of chiropractic research. With the D.O.D’s support, we have made huge strides in our understanding of chiropractic’s effects on the body’s overall function. Current research is discovering amazing things about the effects of chiropractic care on our brains. Did you know that regular chiropractic adjustments may improve your brain’s overall function and protect it as you age? It seems that with every seminar I attend, I learn about a new benefit of chiropractic for the brain. It's incredibly exciting!! Since the beginning, scientific research has been at the heart of chiropractic and still is today.

So Happy Birthday to the Science, Art, and Philosophy of Chiropractic!