Adjusting 118 Years | Eden Prairie Chiropractor

Happy Birthday Chiropractic! 118 years ago on September 18th the first chiropractic adjustment was performed. It happened in Davenport, Iowa by a man named Daniel David Palmer. He worked in an office building as a magnetic healer; living his life searching for better answers to disease and sickness. He developed a relationship with the office building’s custodian, Harvey Lillard, who had struggled with poor hearing for years. Upon evaluation D.D. noticed a bulge in Lillard’s neck. He reasoned that the bulge was a displaced vertebra and after further consultation convinced Lillard to let him correct the position of the bone. He provided the first adjustment by using the spinous process of the vertebra as a lever. Lillard noticed his hearing improve immediately and “Heard the racket of a wagon on the street outside”.

Here is Lillard’s own account of his treatments from Dr. Palmer: “I was deaf 17 years and I expected to always remain so, for I had doctored a great deal without any benefit. I had long ago made up my mind to not take any more ear treatments, for it did me no good. Last January Dr. Palmer told me that my deafness came from an injury in my spine. This was new to me; but it is a fact that my back was injured at the time I went deaf. Dr. Palmer treated me on the spine; in two treatments I could hear quite well. That was eight months ago. My hearing remains good.” HARVEY LILLARD, 320 W. Eleventh St., Davenport, Iowa.

Chiropractic has come a long way in 118 years. Where Dr. Palmer figured he discovered a cure for deafness, he merely failed to realize what he had actually achieved. He restored proper nerve function to Lillard’s body; as a result, Lillard’s innate intelligence was then capable of restoring his hearing. Chiropractors do not cure or treat any medical condition; we correct spinal misalignments to remove interference from the nervous system. A body that is free of nervous system interference is capable of proper function, performance, and healing.

-Keating JC Jr, Cleveland CS III, Menke M (2005). "Chiropractic history: a primer". Association for the History of Chiropractic. Retrieved 9/19/2013.

Zachary Lundbohm, D.C. is the owner and chiropractor at ChiroClub of Eden Prairie; he is committed to providing affordable quality chiropractic care to the local communities. Want to read more about chiropractic? Check out his ChiroBlog for additional posts!