How the Chiropractic profession started
A brief history of the Chiropractic profession
The Chiropractic profession began in the late 1890’s when a Canadian by the name of Daniel David Palmer, was practicing magnetic healing on a patient. He noticed that the patient, Harvey Lillard, a partially deaf man, had a vertebra out of position.
Upon further examination and questioning, Palmer was able to establish that Lillard had 17-years prior, moved the wrong way suddenly and ‘popped’ the vertebra. He claimed that at that moment he lost a substantial part of his hearing.
Palmer deduced that the injury to Lillard had caused his deafness. And so, he had Lillard lie face down on a table and proceeded to carefully adjust his spine back into position.
The next day Lillard returned to Palmer’s clinic and exclaimed "I can hear the rackets on the streets." Lillard also claimed that his hearing had greatly improved after Palmer’s treatment.
Palmer continued to develop his newfound techniques and two years later he opened the first school of Chiropractic’s. Thus, the Chiropractic profession was born.
The origin of the word Chiropractic
The word ‘Chiropractic’ comes from the Greek words ‘cheir’ (meaning 'hand') and ‘praktos’ (meaning 'done').
Palmer asked the Reverend Samuel Weed Barnum, a scholar in Greek literature, to source words that could describe his spine manipulation
techniques. Weed-Barnum came up with ‘cheir’ and ‘praktos’ – Plamer modified them into Chiropratic.
Chiropractic is pain relief without medication
A follower of holistic approaches to healing, Palmer’s philosophy was to incorporate elements such as naturalism and other practices not amenable to scientific method, although Palmer tried to merge science and metaphysics in his methodology.
His approach was that, given the right type of correction, the body could heal itself without the need to resort to medication.
An ardent proponent of Andrew Still’s principles of osteopathy, which had been established in the 1880’s, Palmer described the body as a ‘machine’ whose parts could be manipulated to produce drugless care.
Both men promoted the use of spinal manipulation on joint dysfunction to improved health.
Palmer distinguished his work by noting that he was the first to use short-lever HVLA manipulative techniques using the spinous process and transverse processes as mechanical levers. He described the effects of chiropractic spinal manipulation as being mediated primarily by the nervous system.
The Modern Chiropractic profession
From its humble beginnings, some 128 years ago, the Chiropractic profession has evolved into a global holistic health option for millions of people, where treatments are delivered by qualified professionals such as Alo and Sam from Ormiston Family Chiropractic.
Throughout its history, and because of its holistic health approach, the Chiropractic profession has faced many challenges from quarters of the medical fraternity who have considered its techniques to be not grounded in science.
Yet, it is profession that is thriving. Today, there are more than 900 registered Chiropractors in New Zealand. And, each one of those Chiropractors has had to undergo five years of study to achieve their qualification. A considerable investment in time and money by passionate people dedicated to your holistic health and overall wellness!
Do you have back pain?
Book into Ormiston Family Chiropractic today! We service the Ormiston, Botany, Howick, Pakuranga, East Tamaki and Manukau area.
