Chiropractic at 120 Years Old Continues to Flourish

From www.nowyouknow.net

In case you missed it, Chiropractic turned 120 this past month on September 18th. Below is a shortened release from the ICA on this event and the impact on healthcare in the world.

Chiropractic’s famous first adjustment is recognized each year as Chiropractic Founder’s Day. This annual observance commemorates September 18th, 1895 as on this day, 120 years ago, Dr. Daniel David Palmer, a pioneering clinician in Davenport, Iowa, administered the first specific chiropractic adjustment.

Dr. D.D. Palmer delivered his historic first chiropractic adjustment with the specific intent of realigning a malpositioned vertebra, found on his patient Harvey Lillard, to its normal healthy orientation. Mr. Lillard, who had lost most of his hearing 17 years earlier, noted his hearing swiftly returned under Dr. Palmer’s care. Dr. Palmer proceeded to evolve his clinical practice with his new methods of repositioning spinal segments that were out of alignment, and experienced positive clinical results in patients with a wide variety of health concerns. His practice grew and the profession of Chiropractic was launched.

The theory and clinical basis of Chiropractic was concisely described as “Founded on Tone” by Dr. Palmer in a book he authored in 1910, The Science, Art and Philosophy of Chiropractic. The growing recognition of relationships between the specific chiropractic adjustment, and the body’s ability to communicate and coordinate its functions for optimizing health, brought new understanding of Chiropractic’s efficacy as a healing art and science. Over subsequent years the science, art and philosophy of this unique and special approach to health care was further described and detailed, with educational institutions established for students to complete an extensive course of study to become Doctors of Chiropractic. Key aspects of the chiropractic approach to health and healing were outlined in a landmark text listing 33 Principles of Chiropractic in 1927, with additional insights and data to follow in an expanding compendium of reference texts and research reports ever since. Over years of research, clinical practice and education, Chiropractic has grown into a widely recognized, distinctive health care profession with an expanding collection of research references, documentation of efficacy and cost-effectiveness, and growing numbers of enthusiastic and grateful patients around the globe.

As an emergent new health science and practice now 120 years old, Chiropractic is predicated on the recognition that the human body is a self-healing, self-regulating organism. And, most constructively, Chiropractic understands how the body, rather than requiring interventions that interrupt or intrude in the healing process, instead needs no interference with its innate capacities for self-coordination, organized communication, and repair -- which is now a concept so accepted and credible that widely-recognized authorities like Drs. Andrew Weil and Deepak Chopra base the core premise of their best-selling books and recordings on this healing model.

The pioneering efforts and key principles of Dr. Palmer that, in his time, were deemed an affront to the orthodox medical industry of the era, set the course for a health revolution in the United States and around the world. From its modest and, unfortunately, often misunderstood and misconstrued beginnings, Chiropractic continues to grow in popularity and acceptance, and is now coming into its own as the largest drugless healthcare profession. It was because of the authenticity and soundness of these principles that Chiropractic has not only survived initial harsh criticism and onslaught by its detractors, but has flourished, and now is increasingly understood and embraced by a wide audience of people in search of health and optimizing their potential in life.

After 120 Years How Are We Choosing To Change The World?

A message to all Chiropractors on the 120th birthday of our profession

Chiropractic embodies a truth and as that is shared through words and actions the more the awareness of that truth will spread. When that awareness reaches critical mass, action, actual system wide change will automatically come forth. I know we all want action now but I feel that the best action right now is to continue to tell the story. Right now there are too many people and groups that will try to squash any real action steps, and they will most likely succeed. It will only be when critical mass has been reached that the core paradigm will shift and those same people and groups will not be able to stop the actions that will spring forth. Perhaps our charge is to continually strengthen the wave of change that is already rising and then ride that wave on to the beach of a brighter future.

P.S. As BJ Palmer once said, "You never know how far reaching something you may think, say or do today, could affect the lives of millions tomorrow!" Who knows how many souls have read or been told something today, right now this very minute, that has changed how they view the world for the better. People that, had others not been willing to tell the story again and again and again and again, might not have heard it. Getting frustrated with the world and people today is normal, but change will happen faster if we are willing to keep telling the story.

"It is not the final chop that brings the tree down but all the ones that came before."

Keep chopping away.

Happy Birthday to a great profession and principle!

Upper Cervical Care Isn't For Back Pain?

Chiropractic isn’t for back pain?

by Dr. Deborah Sesker

What is the biggest chiropractic myth? That chiropractic is for back pain.

Wait–isn’t chiropractic care for back pain? And aren’t chiropractors quite effective at helping people with back problems.

Well, no. And yes. Let’s see why by taking a trip back into history.

Every year right around the middle of September, many chiropractors and chiropractic colleges celebrate the birthday of chiropractic. September 18^th is the date that D.D. Palmer gave the first chiropractic adjustment in Davenport, Iowa in 1895.

D.D. Palmer, was a self-taught anatomist, grocer, hobby-farmer, and magnetic healer. He claimed to be the first person (at least in the modern era) to use a short, gentle thrust to adjust a mispositioned vertebra back into position.

(Physicians and healers of all kinds have used the spine to create healing, from the time of the ancient Greeks.)

At this time, D.D. had a large magnetic healing practice in one of the tallest buildings in Davenport, Iowa. Before the era of modern antibiotics and safe and effective surgery, many people turned to magnetic healers for chronic health problems.

D.D. Palmer had many patients as a magnetic healer, but Harvey Lillard was his first patient using what would be become chiropractic care.

And Mr. Lillard, as the first chiropractic patient, wasn’t healed of back pain. Here is a testimonial from Harvey Lillard printed not long after his first chiropractic adjustments.

I was deaf 17 years, and expected always to remain so, for I had doctored a great deal without any benefit. I had long ago made up my mind not to take any more ear treatments, for it did me no good.

…Dr. Palmer told me that my deafness came from an injury to my spine. This was news 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

Based on Mr. Lillard’s healing, Dr. Palmer thought he had found the cure for deafness. He didn’t. But after experimenting with other patients, D.D. learned that he had found something better.

D.D. Palmer had discovered a way to remove nervous system stress and irritation coming from the spine. In Harvey Lillard that stress had caused deafness. In others it causes vertigo, migraine, or seizures. Still in others, it affects their mood, their sleep, and their hormones.

And yes. For many, it creates spine tension and back pain.

So chiropractors, especially with their long education on the anatomy, physiology, and mechanism of injury in the spine, are quite good at helping people with back pain. But chiropractic care isn’t only about back pain. It’s ultimately about having a healthy spine, and therefore a healthy nervous system. And all the good things that happen when the nervous system is communicating as it should be.

Changing the World

A message to all Upper Cervical Doctors of Chiropractic on the 114th birthday of our profession

The more people are exposed to the thoughts of those that know the truth about Upper Cervical Care the more the awareness will spread. When that awareness reaches critical mass, action, actual system wide change will automatically come forth. I know we all want action now but I feel that the best action right now is to continue to tell the story, shout it from the rooftops and the mountain tops, here, there and everywhere. Right now there are too many people and groups that will try to squash any real action steps, and they will most likely succeed. It will only be when critical mass has been reached that the core paradigm will shift and those same people and groups will not be able to stop the actions that will spring forth. That should be our charge: To continually, and as quickly as possible, strengthen this rising wave of change and then ride that wave on to the beach of a brighter future.

P.S. As BJ Palmer once said, "You never know how far reaching something you may think, say or do could affect the live of millions tomorrow!" Who knows how many souls have read or been told something today, right now this very minute, that has changed how they view the world for the better. People that, had others not been willing to tell the story again and again and again and again, might not have heard it. Getting frustrated with the world and people today is normal, but change will happen faster ONLY if we are willing to keep telling the story.

"It is not the final chop that brings the tree down but all the ones that came before."

Keep chopping away.

Happy Birthday to a great profession and principle!