Chiropractic: An American Born Science

    What do you think of when you hear the word Chiropractic? Most people think of back pain. But chiropractic actually started as a way of treating the whole body.
Chiropractic was discovered in 1895, in Davenport Iowa, by D.D. Palmer. Dr. Palmer was what we would call today "a naturalist", a health practitioner concerned with the natural ways of healing the body. He was a pioneer in the areas of what we now know as "energy medicine" and "hands on healing".
    The first "chiropractic patient" was a man by the name of Harvey Lillard, the janitor of the building in which Dr. Palmer had his office. One day as Mr. Lillard was being treated, Dr. Palmer noticed that there was a raised area in his upper spine. Pressure was applied to this area and something moved, creating a small popping sound. The miracle was that Harvey had gotten on Dr. Palmer's treatment table a deaf man, but after that first chiropractic treatment was given, his hearing was restored. As you can imagine, word of chiropractic quickly swept the nation.
    Some of the original documented chiropractic cures involved the successful treatment of conditions such as scleraderma (a serious skin and connective tissue disease), diabetes (this was before the discovery of insulin), and a wide range of other health conditions. D.D. Palmer had discovered how important the nervous system is to the health of the body.
    The raised area that he observed on Harvey Lillard's spine was causing interference with the flow of electrical nerve impulses. When this raised area was pushed, pressure and irritation on nerves, which in this case had to do with hearing, was removed and hearing was restored.
    Chiropractic techniques have changed and evolved over the past century, but the same principles that were at work in 1895, (when hearing was restored to the first chiropractic patient), are alive and well today.


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