Chiropractic's Origin

The origin of modern chiropractic studies can be traced back to September 18, 1895, in the Putnam Building located in Davenport, Iowa. It began when Daniel David Palmer treated a deaf janitor by manipulating the single cervical vertebra. Though there is a mythical attachment to the episode, it is also clouded with discrepancies, because there is no concrete record in regards to the people who were present, the time it happened, and the events that happened. Some people argue that the tale may have been given a mythical spin because it is supposed to have taken place on the Jewish New Year, the date of the Rosh Hashanah, a traditional day for revelation during those times. No matter how people view its origin, chiropractic was not founded by the occasional inspiration or chance. Its foundation is based on four traditional health care practices; bonesetting, magnetic healing, orthodox science, and popular health reform. 

Bonesetters

In the 19^th century, bonesetters were rather popular. Bonesetting was grouped together with healing methods like barber-surgery, tooth pulling, and midwifery. Not really a full time profession, bonesetters worked on patients who had been refused treatment by the established physicians. Other than helping to mend bones, bonesetters also dealt with “subluxations” which referred to the displacement of joints. To ease the pain, bonesetters would use the wrench aid to “put in” the joint again.

On many occasions, Palmer talked about bonesetting, and it is believed that he had been trained in the craft. As a professional and innovative bonesetter, Palmer ensured that its practice would survive up to the present age. Soon, “bonesetting” came to be known as “chiropractic” which is a Greek word meaning “hand work.”

• Origin & Course of Bonesetting
• A Tradition of Bone Setting
• Practice & Tradition of Bonesetting
• Setting Broken Bones
• What is a Subluxation?

Magnetic Healing

The method of chiropractic is derived from bonesetting but the theory is based on “magnetic healing”. In his writings, Palmer acknowledged, “chiropractic was not evolved from medicine or any other method, except that of magnetic.” It referred to Anton Mesmer’s explorations into the healing powers of animal magnetism. According to magnetic healers, health is represented by the uninterrupted flow of energy while illness was the element that hindered the flow. Before he founded chiropractic, Palmer was a magnetic healer. Later, he would use the term “innate intelligence” to describe traditional magnetism. Palmer claimed that the human nervous system was the pathway, paying special focus on the spinal cord. The flow of energy is hindered by misaligned spinal vertebrae, causing illness in people. Combining bonesetting with magnetic healing, Palmer launched a modern and vital medical revolution, pushing for the legitimacy that eluded the forerunners.

• Animal Magnetism
• Franz Anton Mesmer
• Healing with Magnetic Therapy
• Naturopathy &Magnetic Healing
• The History of Chiropractic

Orthodox Science

Strictly speaking, bonesetting was somewhat of a folk tradition and magnetic healing had occult undertones. On its own, the discipline will never be described as a science. Yet, chiropractic qualified as a science. During the 19^th century, a medical movement has to be scientifically relevant to be separated from other types of traditions. In this sense, Palmer was quick to implement existing scientific concepts related to the spinal cord into the theory of chiropractic. At the beginning of the 19^th century, there was major interest in the spinal cord. People were warned that “spinal irritation” could cause harm the organs in their body. As a result, many illnesses were attributed to “spinal irritation”. In his address to the 1871 graduates of Bellevue Hospital College, Oliver Wendell Holmes reportedly confessed that he used the term “spinal irritation” to silence “patients that (sic) will insist on knowing the pathology of their complaints.” In time, it would be known as “neurasthenia” and subsequently, “depression.” In chiropractic, spinal irritation came through the bonesetters’ subluxation terminology. For Palmer, the challenge was to expand the scale of subluxation and spinal irritation further than the illnesses that could not be analyzed. Since the idea of spinal irritation had been universally accepted, it paved the way for chiropractic to be recognized as a form of orthodox science.

• The Principles of Positivism
• Orthodox Theology & Science
• Chiropractic
• Chiropractic & Orthodoxy
• Chiropractic & Osteopathy

Popular Health Reform

After Palmer treated the deaf janitor, he could hear again. If there were not so much frenzy about these cases in the medical world, this “little miracle” would have been viewed as a freak occurrence. At this time, physicians and alternative medicine practitioners were engaged in a national tug-of-war. Americans had been introduced to health food, herbal medicine, hydropathy, homeopathy, Christian Science, and “Mind Cure”. They were always on the lookout for such cases so that they could highlight the inadequacy of mainstream medicine. This was their ticket to perfect health and they were not going to be deterred.

The public was ready to embrace this melding of bonesetting, orthodoxy, and magnetism. Chiropractic contributed positively to the conflict for medical hegemony. Going along with the flow of the movement, Palmer lent his voice against the formation of “germo-anti-toxis-vaxi-radi-electro-microbio-slush death producers”. He promised that chiropractic would be greatest medicine of all because it could be used to cure all illnesses. This helped to explain why chiropractic grew quickly in popularity, surviving into the present age.

• The American Chiropractic Association
• National Health Care Reform
• Chiropractic & National Health Care Reform
• Chiropractic History
• The Early Years