In 1895 Daniel David Palmer established what is now known as modern chiropractic care, and in 1897 he opened the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. However, Mr. Palmer was not the initial founder of the spinal manipulative technique. In fact, Palmer essentially provided a solid framework to it and gave it a name. But the actual origin of chiropractic care dates back to about 2700 B.C.E. in China and 1500 B.C.E. Greece. Greek and Chinese writings mention spinal manipulation as a method to decrease or cure back pain. Also Hippocrates (circa 480 – 357 B.C.E.), wrote about the significance of the spine as being the key issue in health and well-being.
But it wasn’t until the 20th century that chiropractic received recognition in all fifty states. Since then chiropractic continues to help millions of patients, saves millions of dollars annually over conventional medical care alternatives and alleviates untold amounts of suffering and pain worldwide.
There are numerous studies that detail the effectiveness of chiropractic. These studies have given a tremendous boost to the reputation of the profession. A study published in the Journal of Occupations and Environmental Medicine by Highmark Inc which is a Pittsburgh-based health insurer, reported that by utilizing chiropractic care over conventional medical care for the treatment of common back pain, that this program saved $1.3 million within time period of 4 years. Another study published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics obtained data from the Independent Physicians Association (IPA). The report examined data from 2003-2005 in which it discovered that patients seeing chiropractors had 60% fewer hospitalizations, 62% fewer surgeries and pharmaceutical usage and that overall health care costs were up to 85% less than HMO patients who only utilized conventional medical care. A study published in the research journal Spine showed that about 600,000 adults listed ‘alternative’ providers, primarily chiropractors, as their primary doctor and that this same group also reported notably less average cost per patient health care incident over the medical alternative ($342 vs. $506).
Chiropractors are an effective and all natural health care alternative. Chiropractors recognize that the human body has its own tremendous potential to self-heal, especially when the nervous system is allowed to operate unimpeded or as it is intended to. Chiropractors purposefully accomplish this without medication or surgery.