Ever wondered how chiropractic started? I mean, who would, in their crazy minds, think of bending someone’s spine as a solution to various diseases? Did they find it effective during their time? Here we find out the history of chiropractic.
The roots of chiropractic can be traced all the way back to 2700 BC and 1500 BC. Documents retrieved from writings from China and Greece have mentioned spinal manipulation practices and the maneuvering of the lower extremities to ease low back pain. On the other hand, it is known that Hippocrates himself also published texts detailing some important chiropractic care concepts. He wrote, “Get knowledge of the spine, for this is the requisite for many diseases.” Maybe at that time he was already onto something.
However, modern day chiropractic as we know today, began in 1895 and the name Daniel David Palmer comes into center stage. He claimed that the cause of many diseases that affect man could be removed by using the hands alone. The name given to this new profession became its identity (chiropractic means “done by hand”). At the end of the 19th century, when Daniel David Palmer came on the health care scene, medicine has made a shift to focus on more scientific investigation into the treatment of various diseases. So health research prioritized alternatives to traditional medicine. and this then made chiropractic more popular.
Daniel David Palmer reasoned that the body itself is capable of healing itself because it has an ample supply of natural power which is stored and transmitted through the nervous system, one of its parts being the spine. He also stated that if a single organ was not functioning properly, then it must not be receiving its normal nerve supply. That led to the premise of spinal misalignment. From there, procedures for adjusting the vertebrae were thought of, again, using only the hands.
Daniel David Palmer made tremendous research and eventually performed his first spinal adjustment procedures in 1895, relieving one patient from auditory loss and another from a specific heart disease. Arrangements were then made to train other chiropractors and the Palmer School and Cure was eventually founded in 1897. The school later became the Palmer School of Chiropractic.
Over the years, chiropractors have increasingly focused on evidence-based treatment of spine-related disorders as well as other problems involving muscles and bones. So, in addition to the apparent relief that classical chiropractic provided with the use of hands alone, modern chiropractic today uses actual results as basis for its efficiency. What this means is that chiropractic care today is definitely not quack medicine, as most people would think.
In addition, doctors of chiropractic today are considered pioneers in the field of non-invasive care too. A lot of people who are sick but are afraid to go under the knife will surely choose consider chiropractic care.
Interested in becoming a chiropractor? Stick around to find out how!
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