On September 18, 1895 the founder of the chiropractic profession, Daniel David Palmer reportedly used spinal manipulation to restore the hearing of Harvey Lillard, a deaf janitor. As a result, Mr. Lillard claimed to “hear the wagons on the street,” something he could not do prior to receiving the treatment. This singular event is attributed to the genesis of a new profession called chiropractic, “one of the largest health care professions in the United States”. As is stated in a December 1997 report of the US Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) titled Chiropractic in the United States: Training, Practice, and Research. [1, 2, 3]
“Chiropractic is not a theraputical system. It deals exclusively with the cause of disease. It is a separate and distinct science based on giving a spinal adjustment for the cause of disease!”…”Germs are the cause of many diseases and healthy blood is the greatest germacide!”
D. D. Palmer allegedly stated circa 1906 in a debate with Dr Andrew Still, the founder of Osteopathy
“I maintain that chiropractic is a child of osteopathy!” shouted a biligerant Still
Osteopathy and Chiropractic were called “drugless” professions and along with Homeopathy were denegraded as “quackery” (and still are today), they were a big threats to the “Old School” medical establishement who employed coal-tar derived medicines, serums and surgery to treat disease. [4]