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Chiropractic
Origins, Struggles & Development into a Profession!
Manual manipulation has an ancient heritage.
Hippocrates (born 460 BC) the legendary Father of Medicine emphasized the healing force of nature. He wrote extensively on techniques for reducing dislocated joints, including the spine. He is credited with the saying, “In case of disease, first check the spine.” This is because your spinal column houses the spinal chord. It protects your central nervous system. The efficiency of this nervous system directly affects your overall health.
Disharmony (subluxation) between vertibra affects the nerves which carry impulses to organs in the body. This can lead to minor as well as more serious health problems. Chiropractors analyze and correct these disharmonies of the spine, so that your body can function at its optimal capacity.
Chiropractic, as developed in the U.S. has a unique and occasionally quirky history. Legend has it that on September 18, 1895, D.D. Palmer, founder of Chiropractic, gave his first spinal adjustment to Harvey Lillard, a deaf janitor in the building where Palmer had an office. He explained to Palmer that 17 years ago, he felt something give way in his back and immediately became deaf. An examination showed a vertebra out of its normal position. Palmer “cracked” it back into position and soon the man could hear as before.
Palmer believed that a “Universal Intelligence” permeated the universe, never sleeps and is ever vigilant in caring for and directing bodily functions. This innate intelligence, channeling vital force, needs the chiropractor to intervene, locate the subluxated vertebra impinging on a nerve and adjust it by hand. For Palmer the practical task of the chiropractor became the adjustment of vertebra to facilitate the flow of “nerve force.”
D.D. Palmer founder of chiropractic was born on March 7, 1845. He developed his skills as a healer during the turbulant 1800s, a chaotic time when the healing arts struggled for a scientific identification. He died on October 20, 1913.
Although chiropractors argued vigorously over what constitutes true chiropractic, they agreed on a drugless therapy, underwritten by nature. This common commitment provided the basis of cooperation.
In Portland, Oregon DD taught chiropractic to two medical doctors and together they opened the Portland College of Chiropractic.
Solon M. Langworthy a 1901 graduate of the Palmer School opened an office in Ceder Rapids, Iowa, July 1901 and developed an infirmary known as the “Health Home.”
In 1903 he launched the American School of Chiropractic and Nature Cure. Training new chiropractors, he attempted to cast chiropractic as a science and acceptable to 20th century researchers.
“Modernized Chiropractic” (1906), the two-volume treatise Langworthy produced with 1899 Palmer graduates Minora C. Paxson and Oakley G. Smith, consolidated his research and presented chiropractic with a scientific facelift.
His linking of the pathology of aging with the progressive compression of spinal discs and narrowing of the “spinal windows” gained notice in the popular press.
In the early 1900s when Chiropractic was beginning to expand, the powerful and politically connected American Medical Association began harrassing local officials to arrest Chiropractors for practicing medicine. Many Chiropractors were jailed for their beliefs and the public began demanding their licensure.
In 1917, Kansas was the first State to enact a chiropractic statute, although North Dakota was the first to issue a license.
In 1963, New York, after a 50-year battle, finally enacted licensure for Chiropractic and by 1974, all 50 states had passed chiropractic licensure laws.
Currently the U.S. Office of Education recognizes the Council on Chiropractic Education as Chiropractic’s official accrediting agency.
With licensure secured in all 50 States and Chiropractic eligible for Medicare payments, new colleges soon opened with a standard currilculum: The minimal curriculum, similar to Medical Schools has 1,840 hours of basic sciences: anatomy, neurology, physiology, chemistry, pathology, microbology, nutrition, hygiene, sanitation, and public health.
2,080 hours of clinical sciences: Diagnosis, gynecology, obstetrics, pediatrics, roentgenology, geriatrics, dermatology, toxicology, psychology, psychiatry, jurisprudence, ethics, economics and principles of chiropractic. 80 hours of electives.
Over the last decade, study after study continues to confirm its benefit in low back conditions. Other Chiropractic claims are also being evaluated. However, in what some see as a threat to the profession, MD’s and Physical Therapists are beginning to add manipulation to their protocols.
While the outcome over who has the right to manipulate is still being debated it is clear that manipulation is here to stay as a valuable healing technique…and Chiropractors are first and foremost in the skillful delivery of this technique.
Misalignment of the vertibrae puts pressure on the nerves which inhibits nerve flow and interferes with the ability of the nerves to conduct impulses to organs in the body. This can lead to serious health problems.
Chiropractors analyze and correct nerve interferences (subluxations) of the spine, so that your body can function at its optimal capacity.
Although patient support had been vital, Chiropractic fervor and tenacity elevated personal strugggle to the level of a righteous cause, which willed the survival of their chosen calling.
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