You may have noticed that we have been celebrating the past week in the offices! This year the Chiropractic profession celebrated it’s 117th birthday on September 18th. I would love to take a moment and share with you all the story of the first adjustment ever given.
It begins with a man named DD Palmer (pictured at right) who was living in Davenport, Iowa way back in 1895. DD was studying different healing arts at the time therefore he was also studying the structure and function of the human body. He was working out of an office in downtown Davenport where there was a man who worked as a caretaker for the building. This man’s name was Harvery Lillard. One day, Harvey had told DD that he could no longer hear the sounds of the wagons on the streets or the ticking of a watch anymore; that he was almost completely deaf. When DD questioned him how this may have happened, Harvey had told him that many years earlier, while working in a bent over stooped position he “heard something pop” in his spine and immediately lost quite a bit of hearing. DD Palmer examined Harvey’s spine and found “a lump” just between his shoulder blades. He then discussed with Harvey that he thought this area of his spine had a bone out of place that was causing interference to the nerve system. He reasoned that the body was controlled through the brain and nerve system by thousands of messages sent every second to control each structure and function of the body, and that pressure on the nerves could distort and block these messages from being sent to and from the brain and body. He explained to Harvey that he wanted to “push” this bone back in place to take the pressure off the nerve system. Since Harvey had known DD for years and had seen him help others through other modes of healing, he decided to let DD work on him. He layed down on a table where DD then examined his spine again, found the area with the “lump” and gave “a push” on it. Harvey got up and could hear again! It’s been stated that DD described this first adjustment as a specific one using the spinous process (part of the vertebra) as lever to help move the bone back in place.
Word of this spread at the time, but people thought the cure for deafness had been found. However, many others with hearing problems were not gaining it back through DD Palmer’s treatment. You would think this would be the end of the profession, however, many people had other ailments and health issues clear up through having their spines adjusted by DD. Over the succeeding months after the first adjustment given to Harvey, DD Palmer had many other people come to him with every conceivable health problem including the flu, sciatica, heart troubles, epilepsy, and stomach complaints. DD Palmer found that all these ailments responded well to the adjustments which he was calling “hand treatments” at the time. A little later the name Chiropractic was given to his treatment method; it is derived from the Greek words Chiro (meaning hand) and Practic (meaning practice or operation); therefore the meaning of Chiropractic is done by hand. DD Palmer went on to open the first chiropractic school ever to teach this healing method to others and to also do more research into it.
I love sharing this story because not only is it amazing, but it’s a great reminder that adjustments aren’t for a specific ailment only. Chiropractic was first born through a man re-gaining his hearing, but it quickly turned into something bigger. When restored hearing did not occur with others, research was done and it was found over and over again that by adjusting the spine, interference to the nerve system was removed which allowed the body to heal at an unbelievable level.
“Your body’s ability to heal is greater than anyone has permitted you to believe”
Happy 117 years Chiropractic!
-Dr Jen
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