CHIROPRACTIC HISTORY
Chiropractic
started as a hunch 100 years ago, when Harvey Lillard (right) heard a "pop"
in his neck after which there was a rapid deterioration in his hearing.
His employer, Daniel David Palmer (below, right), a magnetic healer, recognized
the relationship of spinal displacement and the reduced function of the
nervous system.
Daniel
David Palmer was a self-educated (as were many people before the turn of
the century) magnetic healer, with a large practice in Davenport, Iowa.
In this booming, raucous river boat town on the Mississippi, Palmer started
magnetic healing in a conventional manner by using the energy from his hands
to charge up a patient, sort of like a weak car battery would get a trickle
charge and start (heal).
But now, through Lillard, Palmer was on a new track - with a new way to look at the energetic problem of healing and health. Palmer began his study of the spine. Eventually, using the bony processes used for muscular attachments and movement, he levered the spinal bone back into position and freed the full nerve flow to the body.
"Voila", he accidentally discovered how to jump start healing in the body. Chiropractic was born.
What made
this different from the gross manipulation used in the past was the understanding
of the global implications of this method as a distinct healing art. Palmer
was a genius, but had an abrasive personality ill suited to the promotion
of chiropractic. His son B.J. Palmer (right) was the marketeer, educator,
and inventor that carried the chiropractic torch for the next sixty years.
B.J. built Palmer School of Chiropractic in Davenport, which became the
premier chiropractic college in the world at that time.
Interestingly,
B.J. was quite inventive, too. In fact, he coined the radio business term--"broadcasting."
Previously, broadcasting was an agricultural term meaning to throw out seeds
(ideas). In 1924, B.J. had the first radio station west of the Mississippi,
WOC (or, Wonders Of Chiropractic). In 1928 he purchased WHO (With Hands
Only) in Des Moines. He wrote and spoke extensively around the country about
radio salesmanship and the effective management of radio stations. He was
a world traveler and writer, who spoke to folks all over the country, on
his 50,000 watt clear channel stations, about his travels and chiropractic.
He was a also a pioneer in television after the war, building a broadcasting
empire to insure the future success of chiropractic.
Chiropractic and its leaders changed with the times towards mainstream
acceptance and worldwide use. The principles of this distinct healing method
are still the same as they were 100 years ago. Essentially, the body is
a self healing organism.
The structure of anything determines how it will function. The nervous system
controls and coordinates every organ and tissue of the body. There is a
relationship between the spine and the health of the nervous system. Find
the blockage and eliminate it and the body will move back toward health.