A legacy worth upholding.

The origins of chiropractic

Daniel David Palmer (1845–1913), usually known as D.D. Palmer, founded chiropractic in the United States. The first chiropractic adjustment is described as having been carried out in 1895, and in 1897 he founded the school in Davenport, Iowa, that later became Palmer College of Chiropractic. It is this profession — chiropractic — that Hanne practises today.

Palmer gathered his ideas in several works, among them The Science, Art and Philosophy of Chiropractic (1910) and The Chiropractor, published in 1914, the year after his death. These works belong to the early history of ideas of chiropractic.

The founding ideas — as historical philosophy

In the early philosophy of chiropractic, the spine stood at the centre. Palmer described the body as a system with its own self-regulating capacity, and attributed a decisive role to the nervous system and the function of the spine. These ideas were formulated in an era shaped by vitalism — the notion of an inherent life force — and should be read as historical philosophy, not as a description of what treatment does today.

Parts of the early literature contained far-reaching claims about disease and healing. Such claims reflect the thinking of their time and are not consistent with today’s state of knowledge. We present them here as history — not as promises of results.

The spine across traditions

Long before chiropractic, many cultures placed the spine at the centre of their picture of the human being. These are traditions and symbols — ways people have thought about the body — not medical science. We share them here as history and philosophy.

In ancient Egypt, the djed pillar was a symbol of stability and endurance, often read as the backbone of the god Osiris. Strength, structure and steadiness were imagined as springing from a sound spine.

In traditional Chinese medicine, the concept of jing — a person’s foundational essence — is described as being stored in the kidneys, the marrow and the bones, along the axis of the spine. It is a philosophical and traditional idea, not a physiological claim.

In the twentieth century, the Egyptologist R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz spent years surveying the Temple of Luxor and proposed, in The Temple of Man, that its ground plan mirrors the human body — with the central axis corresponding to the spine. It is an esoteric interpretation, offered here as a history of ideas.

What these traditions share is a poetic intuition: that the spine is a central axis of the human form. We find that image beautiful — and we keep it where it belongs, as culture and philosophy, distinct from the clinical, evidence-informed care we practise.

From philosophy to evidence

Chiropractic has developed a great deal since the founder’s time. Today, chiropractic is part of healthcare, and modern chiropractic is evidence-informed: it rests on clinical examination, research and collaboration with the rest of healthcare.

At State of Spine this means that every complaint is assessed individually through a case history and a clinical examination — an orthopaedic and neurological assessment — before treatment. We promise no treatment results, and where a condition should be evaluated by another care provider, we refer on. The heritage inspires; the evidence guides.

Read about Hanne’s approach →  ·  See treatments →