The Sioux,
Winnebago, Creek, Aztec, Toltec,
Tarascan, Zoltec, Inca and Mayan Indians
were all thought to have practiced some
form of manipulative treatment while the
Polynesians had children walk on the
backs of the adults to relieve pain.
Soft-tissue manipulation is known to have
been practiced in ancient Japan, India,
Egypt, Babylonia, Syria and Tibet.
Another important Greek physician,
Claudis Galen, (A.D. 130 to 200)
successfully treated the paralysis of
Eudemus's (a Roman scholar) right hand by
administering precise manipulation to the
patient's neck vertebrae. This is how he
earned the name "Prince of
Physicians". In the Middle ages, the
healing art of "bonesetting"
was passed down through the family in
many areas of Europe and Asia. Eastern
European gypsies were said to use trained
bears to walk on the backs of patients. Back to Top 
How Modern
Chiropractic Began
Chiropractic as we know it today began in
1895 with a man named Daniel David
Palmer. It is important to know that 19th
century experience with the healing
sciences consisted of medical men who
were either self educated or had learned
their craft through an apprenticeship. In
these times, medical men practiced
medicine on the side along with some
other primary means of support. It wasn't
until the 1880s that individual states
began passing laws regulating medical
liscensing and standards. D.D. Palmer was
a self educated man who began a career as
a magnetic healer after working as a
grocer. Harvey Lillard, a janitor who
worked in Palmer's office told him that
he went deaf 17 years before. He was
bending underneath a stairwell,
straightened himself out and felt
something "pop". Palmer then
examined Lillard and drawing on his
extensive knowledge of anatomy, felt that
there was a vertebra out of place in the
upper back. Palmer reasoned that if the
bone were moved back into its normal
position, then Lillard's hearing would
return. After several of these sessions,
Lillard could hear again. D.D. Palmer
went on to open the first chiropractic
school, The Palmer Chiropractic College
in Davenport, Iowa. The efforts of D.D.
Palmer, his son Bartlett Joshua Palmer
and a few others resulted in the first
state law being passed in 1913 for
liscensing chiropractors. In the 1960s
U.S. Council on Chiropractic
Education(CCE) was formed which gained
formal recognition from the U.S. Office
of Education in 1974. The CCE and its
affiliates provide an international
accrediting agency for chiropractic
education, specifying uniform minimum
educational standards. Back to Top

Current Events
Today every state in North America has
chiropractic liscensing laws in effect.
As we said before, the world is becoming
more open to the chiropractic option.
However the profession continues to
suffer political and economic bias. Often
healthcare practitioners of other
disciplines, drug companies and insurance
companies alike have made attempts to
discredit chiropractors. This may be the
result of incorrect information being
distributed or a lack of available
information. Also since chiropractors are
able to treat certain conditions
effectively without drugs (and are even
able to avoid surgery in some cases) some
members of the medical profession,
particularly the pharmaceutical industry
may feel protective of their livelihood.
"50,000
pharmacies and 700,000
outlets for drugs add up to a
60 billion dollar a year
industry, which has the
highest profitability margin
of any business in the United
States."
-Health
Education Advancement Lyceum,
1993
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February 7, 1990 marked a breakthrough
in chiropractic history. Judge
Getsendanner of the U.S District Court in
Chicago found The American Medical
Association (the defendants) guilty of
engaging in a propaganda campaign to
destroy the reputation and profession of
chiropractic. There was evidence that the
AMA purposely provided misinformation
regarding the usefulness of chiropractic
treatment, interfered with insurance
reimbursements, and discouraged hospitals
from providing diagnostic/treatment
services to chiropractors and their
patients. These unethical activities were
used to insure that the medical
profession maintained complete economic
control over healthcare in the United
States. There are studies being done that
reveal not only the undeniable safety and
effectiveness, but also the lower overall
cost of chiropractic treatment as
compared to medical care for the same
condition. Nowadays people are looking
for alternatives to medicine and surgery
that work. They are realizing that the
chiropractic philosophy and theory is a
solid one. It makes sense. Back to Top
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