How It All Began

Many people are unaware that chiropractic has been around for over a hundred years. This month is the anniversary of the first adjustment, or when chiropractic began.

It all started in Iowa. A man named D.D. Palmer who liked to experiment with different healing modalities originally discovered the profession.

The story of how it began is actually very interesting.

An African-American janitor by the name of Harvey Lillard had been suffering from hearing loss. At his job, he was constantly working bent over making him very prone to developing rounding of the shoulders, forward head posture, and a hump in his back.

D.D. Palmer hypothesized that this might be problematic and asked if he could attempt to help him.

What D.D. Palmer did was perform an adjustment specifically to Harvey Lillard’s neck. At that point in time, not as much was known about the nervous system as it is today.

Although, they did know that the nervous system controlled everything else in the body.

Immediately, after the adjustment, Harvey Lillard regained his hearing. This was the moment when the chiropractic profession was born.

D.D. Palmer went on to start several chiropractic schools. The original school, Palmer Chiropractic College, still bares his name to this day.

From that point on chiropractic expanded and many more stories piled up telling of all the amazing testimonials similar to the one that had taken place in Iowa with D.D. and Harvey Lillard.

Chiropractic focuses on the spine in order to impact and improve the function of the nervous system. Most people think of chiropractic as just a treatment for neck or low-back pain.

Although, it frequently helps with these types of discomfort, the profession itself was never started to address these types of problems. As you read previously, the nervous system controls everything in the body, so digestion, respiration, circulation, etc. could all be interfered with if the nervous system isn’t functioning properly.

It’s easy to see how the lines could get crossed when it comes to chiropractic because the nervous system that chiropractors work with is housed inside the spine which runs through the neck, down into the low-back. Therefore, when people go to a chiropractor and see them focused on the neck and back, they make the assumption that’s what it’s supposed to help.

Not that they’re wrong. It’s just much bigger than that.

Live Your Most Jubilant Life!