Chiropractic History
Ever wonder about how Chiropractic started and evolved over time?
1895
First Chiropractic Adjustment
The beginning of chiropractic dates back to 1895, when Daniel David Palmer of Iowa performed the first chiropractic adjustment on a partially deaf janitor, Harvey Lillard, who then noticed a few days later to Palmer that his hearing seemed better. This led to Palmer opening a school of chiropractic two years later. The word “chiropractic” was coined from Greek root words by Reverend Samel Weed. Early chiropractic bore similarities to osteopathy and was ridiculed as practicing medicine without a license. Those similarities for many chiropractors, including D.D. Palmer, forced them to jailed on such charges.
1906
Palmer School of Chiropractic
In 1906, D.D.’s son B. J. Palmer took the helm of the Palmer School of Chiropractic. B.J. began to accept the use of technology such as X-rays within chiropractic care. Dr. Solon Langworthy was the very first to use the word “subluxation”, and wrote the first book on chiropractic, called “Modernized Chiropractic” — “Special Philosophy — A Distinct System”, in 1906.