It all started in 1895, with a healer named Daniel David Palmer and a deaf janitor in his building, Harvey Lillard. Lillard explained to D.D. that one day he was bending down when he felt a pop in his back, and he’d been deaf ever since.
Palmer laid Lillard on his table and noticed a lump on Mr. Lillard’s back – it appeared that one of his vertebrae was out of place. Palmer pushed the vertebrae into place, and suddenly Lillard could hear for the first time in 17 years!
Palmer realized that he had discovered something more far-reaching when patients with various problems began improving in response to his “hand treatments” (as he first called them):
- Digestive problems
- Sciatica
- Menstrual troubles
- Migraine headaches
- Epilepsy
- Heart problems
- Back pain
And there was a long history of manual spine manipulation to support Dr. Palmer’s new field of Chiropractic. Evidence of manual manipulation of the body has been found among the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Babylon, Syria, Japan, the Incas, Mayans and Native Americans.
Ancient writings from China and Greece dating between 2700 B.C. and 1500 B.C. mention spinal manipulation to ease low back pain. In fact, Hippocrates, the famous Greek physician who lived from 460 to 357 B.C., published a text detailing the importance of manual manipulation.
