As with many other treatment fields, the theory and practice of the chiropractor have changed significantly in over a century of study and research, with the result being beneficial for the entire field.
The modern school of chiropractic is focused on the relationship between the body, the functions of the nerves and its connection to health, based on evolutions of principles that existed since the very start of chiropractic treatment.
The man who coined the term and the first person to use the chiropractic method was Daniel David Palmer (1845 -1913), the man who founded the first school for theory and treatment, but also a somewhat unique character who had views about the chiropractic that would shock modern practitioners.
After spending years as a beekeeper, a teacher and the owner of a shop, he started to become interested in spiritualism and alternative therapy, in particular the then-popular practice of magnetic healing.
By a moment of serendipity in 1895, D.D. Palmer managed to help a janitor of his office in Davenport, Iowa, Mr Harvey Lillard, improving his hearing by manipulating his back.
Accounts differ as to whether this was initially a specific treatment or whether by chance Mr Palmer slapped Mr Lillard on the back and managed to help his healing, but this treatment was the seed that grew into the entire chiropractic field.
Three years later, he opened the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Davenport, and his son Bartlett Joshua would graduate from there in 1902, running the education establishment whilst his father opened a school in Portland, Oregon.
The two had very different ideas, particularly on where chiropractic treatment fit next to other treatments and whether they should use instruments such as ultrasound to help with treatments.
The older Mr Palmer retained many of his spiritualist views, and he was convicted in 1906 for practising without a licence. This incident and the refusal of his son B.J. to let him back into the school he founded led to a bitter estrangement between the two.
After the elder Mr Palmer died in 1913, his son continued to push the field forward, establishing a research clinic in 1935, a push that has continued ever since
