The Beginning The process of being a chiropractor started in 1895 when D.D. Palmer of the United States created the practice. It was on a September day in that year that D.D. Palmer gave the first chiropractor adjustment to a man by the name of Harvey Lillard, who was a deaf janitor. Apparently, although there is no evidence of this, the adjustment restored the man’s hearing. A friend of Palmer’s came up with the name of chiropractor by combining cheiros and praktikos. The Palmer School of Chiropractic was founded the next year by Palmer.

Now, it is practiced in more than 100 countries, yet despite its use, it has been the subject of criticism due to what many doctors feel is a metaphysical approach to the profession. To deal with the criticism, the Council of Chiropractor Education has resolved to have the profession move more from a metaphysical approach to the practice, and into a neuromuscular approach. The Schools of Though For chiropractors, there are three different schools of thought in terms of chiropractic practices. The first is Traditional Straight, which is the oldest movement, dating back to the practice of D.D. Palmer. Their belief is that the vertebral subluxation leads to interference in the nervous system of humans, which is a risk factor for disease.

With traditional straight chiropractors, people are screened for serious disease and then treated by the chiropractor’s technique. The second school of thought is mixer, which became an early offshoot of the straight movement. This branch came from the doctors who attended the Palmer College of Chiropractic, and then made an effort to change the diagnostic and treatment practices of the traditional straight movement. Practices of this technique have founded the National College of Chiropractic, and their practices included using naturopathic remedies, physical therapy devices and alternative medicine. Objective Straight chiropractors are also an off-shoot of the traditional straights. Objective straight chiropractors do not see their practice as a cure for disease, and they only focus on the correction of chiropractic vertebral subluxations. They state they do not want to diagnose diseases, not even diseases of the spine.

The last school of thought is the reform chiropractors. These chiropractors are advocates of palpation and manipulation to treat osteoarthritis, joint problems and musculoskeletal problems. They do not believe that spinal joint dysfunction causes organic disease, and they shy away from alternative medicine. They align themselves with medical physicians much more than the other practices. Conclusion Despite a rocky history with the world of traditional medicine, chiropractors have found a niche that many people look for when they are dealing with back problems.

Since its days at the turn of the 20th century as a cure for disease, it has become much more mainstream and seen as a way to cure the aches and pains that plague many people, every day of their lives. Thankfully, due to one man helping a janitor with back troubles, many of us do not have to suffer with back problems any longer. With a quick visit to a chiropractor, our pains in the back can be eliminated and we can go back to our daily lives. Ont i ryggen Ischias