What is Chiropractic?

      
       DD Palmer                   BJ Palmer                     Mabel Palmer             David Palmer
     The Founder            The Developer       Encouraged Women     Responsible for 
                                                                               in Chiropractic          Accreditation

In 1895  DD Palmer, among other things, was a magnetic healer.  Today he would have been described as an energy worker.  One day he was working in his third story office in Davenport, Iowa when Harvey Lillard, the janitor of the building, explained to Palmer that he had lost his hearing after bending over and hearing a loud pop in his upper back.  Upon examination Palmer found what he believed was a misaligned vertebra and forced it back into position.  As the story goes Mr. Lillard's hearing was restored immediately.

Palmer at first thought he had discovered the cure for deafness but soon found out that wasn't the case.  He did, however, observe that this practice of spinal manipulation was resulting in the alleviation of other conditions.  His investigations lead to his belief that the spine was the key to health.  He believed that mental impulses from the brain to the body's tissues were necessary for proper body functioning and that misaligned vertebrae caused by trauma, toxins and even thoughts would interfere with that vital communication, causing dis-ease in the body and rendering the person susceptible to illness and disease. 

DD's son BJ, along with BJ's wife Mabel, developed chiropractic into a science and promoted both chiropractic and the school they founded by traveling the world and recruiting students to come to Davenport where the original school was located. Throughout the mid and later decades of the 20th century many fine chiropractic colleges were founded by graduates of the original Palmer College of Chiropractic.  Credit for accreditation for chiropractic education goes to BJ and Mabel's son David. Today there are 43 colleges throughout the world including 17 in the United States.

more to come...