A History of Chiropractic

On September 18, 1895, Dr. Daniel David (D.D.) Palmer was working in his office located in Davenport, Iowa when Harvey Lillard came to him. Mr. Lillard was a janitor in the building and was mostly deaf. When Dr. Palmer asked when his deafness started, Mr. Lillard explained that he heard a popping sound in his neck and after that, his hearing was never the same again. As Dr. Palmer began to feel the neck of Mr. Lillard, he noticed that one of the vertebra was out of line with the rest of the bones, possibly causing pressure on the nervous system (called subluxation). When he pushed this bone back into place, an amazing thing happened… Harvey Lillard’s hearing was greatly restored!  

 As Dr. Palmer studied more about how the nervous system works and controls every part of our body and how pressure on the nervous system blocks vital communication between the brain and the body, chiropractic was discovered!

Dr. Barlett Joshua (B.J.) Palmer, Dr. D.D. Palmer’s son, was very passionate about spreading  chiropractic to the public and researching how the nervous system and spine control the body.