One of the main causes of pain and disease in the human body can be traced to improper alignment of the vertebrae in your spinal column. This is called a subluxation. Through carefully applied pressure, massage, and manual manipulation of the vertebrae and joints, pressure and irritation on the nerves is relieved and joint mobility is restored, allowing your body to return to its natural state of balance, called homeostasis. Put another way, when the bones in your spine are allowed to go back to their proper positions, the nerve energy can resume its normal flow and your body's natural healing processes can function properly.
In general, proper chiropractic treatment of your body's lumbar, or lower back, region, involves very little risk, and the rewards can be significant.
Chiropractic manipulations can be especially helpful in relieving pain for facet joint injuries, osteoarthritis, and sacroiliac joint dysfunction, because such conditions respond well to mobilization. Moreover, scores of patients with chronic headaches, sinus problems, high blood pressure, ear infections, leg pain, arthritis, and many other illnesses have reported significant relief after chiropractic therapy.
Increasingly over the past few decades, the medical community has come to accept and recognize chiropractic care as a valid form of treatment for a variety of neuro-musculoskeletal conditions, and as a conservative treatment option for patients with lower back pain. Moreover, many medical doctors recognize a chiropractic diagnosis and accept it as the first line of treatment for functional disorders of the entire musculoskeletal system.
Studies by leading medical journals in recent years have confirmed the benefits of chiropractic care:
For centuries scientists, physicians, and even philosophers have long believed that the body's spinal cord is at the root of many ailments that have nothing to do with back or neck pain.
But the birth of the chiropractic profession was not to occur until the late-19th century—September 18, 1895, to be exact—in the small offices of the Palmer Cure & Infirmary in Davenport, Iowa.
Late that day, Canadian-born Daniel David Palmer was in his office trying to have a conversation with the building's janitor, Harvey Lillard.
Palmer noticed that Lillard was nearly deaf, and asked the man what caused him to lose his hearing. Lillard didn't know, but told Palmer his hearing began diminishing after a back injury he sustained while stooping in a cramped position. Lillard remembered hearing a "pop" in his back, and suffered hearing loss for years after that.
It was a revelation that capped what Palmer had long suspected—an indubitable connection between the spine and disease—that misalignment of the spinal column interferes with normal nerve function, and thus, leads to a host of maladies. Palmer suspected that if he were able to return the popped vertebrae in Lillard's back to its original position, it would also restore his hearing. Using a technique called the "spinous process," Palmer gently repositioned the vertebra with a firm thrust.
Lillard's hearing began to return. Over the next week, Palmer continued his spinal manipulation treatment on Lillard; each day his hearing gradually improved. Palmer coined a term for his new technique: chiropractic from the Greek words chiro, meaning hand, and practic, meaning practice. He dedicated his practice from that point forward to use of the new therapy.
In the ensuing months, Palmer treated flu, sciatica, migraine headaches, stomach complaints, epilepsy, and heart trouble with adjustments he called "hand treatments"—all without the use of drugs, medications, or surgery.
Despite Palmer's early successes, chiropractic adjustments were not readily accepted by the medical community. Palmer was later indicted for practicing medicine without a license and was sentenced to 105 days in jail and ordered to pay a $350 fine.
Palmer is the author of two well-known books: The Science of Chiropractic (1906) and The Chiropractor's Adjuster (1910). He died in 1913 at the age of 68 in Los Angeles.
His son, Bartlett Joshua, carried on his father's work and was instrumental in getting chiropractic recognized as a licensed profession.
In the 20th century, the chiropractic profession grew into a respected branch of the healing arts, largely through research and recognition by the government and medical community. Here are some milestones:
Dr. Robert Pinto
Dr. Anne Pinto
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