Q: Where did chiropractic come from?

A: Chiropractic was rediscovered and named in 1895 in Davenport, Iowa by DD Palmer, a magnetic healer and teacher who performed the first chiropractic adjustment on his deaf janitor. When the man’s hearing returned Palmer began to investigate the relationship between health and the spinal column.

Q: Why “rediscovered?”

A: Spinal healing had been practiced for thousands of years in nearly every civilization on earth. It has stood the test of time, having been a blessing to millions of people for millennia. But its ancient techniques and principles became lost as humanity became enthralled with drugs and surgery. Dr. Palmer revived and began to teach this old/new healing art.

Q: Was chiropractic accepted at first?

A: People flocked to the first chiropractors. Here was a non-drug, non-surgical approach to healthcare that was safe and effective. The number of Doctors of Chiropractic grew from one man in the American Midwest to thousands in a short time. Chiropractic especially grew in popularity during the 1919 flu pandemic when people under chiropractic care had almost no mortality while people under medical care suffered many deaths.

Q: Did the medical profession accept chiropractors?

A: The medical profession saw chiropractic’s drug-free approach as a threat to their monopoly in healthcare and attacked chiropractors claiming they were practicing “medicine and surgery without a license.” Many chiropractors were actually jailed, fined or imprisoned – but they refused to surrender. Eventually the laws were changed to permit more freedom for non-medical healthcare professionals.

Q: So there is peace now between the healing arts?

A: Not exactly. As more and more people turn to non-medical practitioners the medical profession is finally accepting competition. The medical monopoly is slowly but steadily breaking.

There are different philosophies of health and healing; chiropractic/natural healing approaches and medicine are on opposite sides of the spectrum and disagree strongly on many healthcare issues. The result is that people have access to more information from other perspectives, are often better informed and can make better decisions.