Chiropractic care is a standard back and neck pain treatment, but where did it come from? The origins of chiropractic are pretty strange and unexpected. It all started with a Canadian man named Daniel David (D.D.) Palmer in the late 1800s.
Palmer worked as a “magnetic healer,” claiming he could cure diseases by waving magnets over people’s bodies. This practice was already viewed as quackery at the time. One day, Palmer’s janitor mentioned he had become deaf after an accident years earlier. Palmer examined the janitor’s neck and tried “adjusting” it by popping the vertebrae. Amazingly, the janitor claimed his hearing improved afterward!
Palmer decided he had discovered the cure for deafness – misaligned spinal bones he called “subluxations.” He began advertising his ability to pop backs and necks to restore hearing and cure any disease. Thousands visited Palmer’s clinic hoping for miraculous cures, but many were disappointed when they realized neck-popping did not cure cancer or blindness.
Still, Palmer persisted. To evade regulation, he turned chiropractic into a new religion with himself as its prophet. He wrote spiritual texts about chiropractic’s “innate intelligence” flowing through the spine. Meanwhile, his son B.J. Palmer rejected the religious angle and focused on running chiropractic as a profitable business. He mass-produced devices to train new chiropractors on spinal “adjustments.”
The rivalry between D.D. and B.J. grew heated. According to questionable sources, B.J. may have even struck D.D. with his car at a parade, contributing to D.D.’s death two weeks later.
After D.D. died, B.J. successfully grew the Palmer School of Chiropractic into a thriving college. However, the medical establishment refused to recognize chiropractic as a legitimate medicine. In the 1960s and 70s, chiropractors were still jailed for practicing medicine without a license.
The animosity between chiropractors and medical doctors continues today. Most doctors admit spinal manipulation can temporarily relieve back pain but say its benefits are limited. However, a small minority of chiropractors continue to make unsubstantiated claims that “adjustments” can cure diseases from autism to diabetes.
While its origins were dubious, chiropractic treatment has undeniably become more mainstream and scientific in recent decades. However, patients should use skepticism before accepting grandiose claims about chiropractic’s curative powers. Spinal adjustments may provide short-term pain relief but are unlikely to be a miracle cure.
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