Therapies... - Chiropractic - A History

Chiropractic was introduced in 1895 by Daniel David Palmer. A lay healer, Palmer performed a spinal manipulation on a local janitor named Harvey Lillard who had lost his hearing seventeen years prior due to a vertebra misalignment in his upper spine. Using a sharp thrust, Palmer repositioned the thoracic vertebrae and Lillard's hearing returned.

Palmer developed the idea of joint-oriented nerve interference and later coined the term "Chiropractic", based on his theory. In 1897, he formed the first chiropractic college, the Chiropractic School and Cure, and the first United States state licensing law was passed in 1913.