About Chiropractic
The art of modern chiropractic began in 1895 with Daniel Palmer, an immigrant from Ontario, Canada. Palmer studied magnetic healing under Paul Caster. In 1885, Palmer opened his own practice in Iowa.
At the clinic, there worked a janitor named Harvey Lillard. Lillard had been deaf for nearly 17 years. Lillard attributed this to a specific moment, while exerting himself in a stooped position, he felt something pop in his back and became immediately deaf. Palmer felt that if the vertebra he observed to be out of its position were to be placed back, the janitor should have his hearing restored.
After a half-hour of convincing, Lillard allowed Palmer to attempt the repositioning of the vertebra. Soon thereafter, Lillard regained all of his hearing.
Not long after, Palmer found a heart patient that had a misplaced vertebra pressing on the nerves that control the heart. Palmer adjusted the spine and the patient found immediate relief.
Thus was the art of chiropractic born.
Palmer began developing his "hand treatment", and was soon treating a myriad of different conditions. Asthma, colic, ear infections, digestion problems, and headaches were only a few of the ailments treated.
Reverend Samuel Reed, one of Palmer's first patients, gave the new profession it's name. He called it chiropractic, Greek for "done by hand".
In 1897, Palmer formed the Palmer School of Chiropractic (now the Palmer College of Chiropractic) to train the next generation of chiropractors, including his own son, B.J. Palmer.
As word of the success of chiropractic treatments spread, the American Medical Association began a campaign to get rid of the chiropractic profession. Using their control of medical licensing as a weapon, AMA officials attempted to stamp out their new competition. Many chiropractors were handcuffed and arrested in front of their patients; taken to jail for "practicing medicine and surgery without a license".
In 1987, chiropractors retaliated in the Wilk v. AMA case. On August 27, 1987, Judge Susan Getzendanner found the American Medical Association, American College of Radiology, and American College of Surgeons guilty of conspiring to destroy the profession of chiropractic in the United States. Judge Getzendanner ruled that these organizations had violated Sherman Antitrust Laws. The committee felt that "chiropractic was more effective than the medical profession in treating certain back injuries".