Dr. Allan Sicignano * Chiropractor * 21 Spring Street * New York City * 10012 * Tel: (212) 343-9218

There is Chinese documentation estimated to be from 2700 B.C. from the Kong Fou era.

Greek papyrus was discovered from 1500 B.C.. It showed techniques in maneuvering the lower extremities to treat the lower back.

Some Native Americans left behind hieroglyphics which illustrate people using their feet to manipulate a subject's spine.

Hippocrates, the Greek physician was a great supporter of spinal manipulation and wrote two books on this subject called Manipulation And Importance To Good Health and On Setting Joints By Leverage .

The Sioux, Winnebago, Creek, Aztec, Toltec, Tarascan, Zoltec, Inca and Mayan Indians were all thought to have practiced some form of manipulative treatment while the Polynesians had children walk on the backs of the adults to relieve pain. Soft-tissue manipulation is known to have been practiced in ancient Japan, India, Egypt, Babylonia, Syria and Tibet. Another important Greek physician, Claudis Galen, (A.D. 130 to 200) successfully treated the paralysis of Eudemus's (a Roman scholar) right hand by administering precise manipulation to the patient's neck vertebrae. This is how he earned the name "Prince of Physicians". In the Middle ages, the healing art of "bonesetting" was passed down through the family in many areas of Europe and Asia. Eastern European gypsies were said to use trained bears to walk on the backs of patients. Back to Top How Modern Chiropractic Began Chiropractic as we know it today began in 1895 with a man named Daniel David Palmer. It is important to know that 19th century experience with the healing sciences consisted of medical men who were either self educated or had learned their craft through an apprenticeship. In these times, medical men practiced medicine on the side along with some other primary means of support. It wasn't until the 1880s that individual states began passing laws regulating medical liscensing and standards. D.D. Palmer was a self educated man who began a career as a magnetic healer after working as a grocer. Harvey Lillard, a janitor who worked in Palmer's office told him that he went deaf 17 years before. He was bending underneath a stairwell, straightened himself out and felt something "pop". Palmer then examined Lillard and drawing on his extensive knowledge of anatomy, felt that there was a vertebra out of place in the upper back. Palmer reasoned that if the bone were moved back into its normal position, then Lillard's hearing would return. After several of these sessions, Lillard could hear again. D.D. Palmer went on to open the first chiropractic school, The Palmer Chiropractic College in Davenport, Iowa. The efforts of D.D. Palmer, his son Bartlett Joshua Palmer and a few others resulted in the first state law being passed in 1913 for liscensing chiropractors. In the 1960s U.S. Council on Chiropractic Education(CCE) was formed which gained formal recognition from the U.S. Office of Education in 1974. The CCE and its affiliates provide an international accrediting agency for chiropractic education, specifying uniform minimum educational standards. Back to Top Current Events Today every state in North America has chiropractic liscensing laws in effect. As we said before, the world is becoming more open to the chiropractic option. However the profession continues to suffer political and economic bias. Often healthcare practitioners of other disciplines, drug companies and insurance companies alike have made attempts to discredit chiropractors. This may be the result of incorrect information being distributed or a lack of available information. Also since chiropractors are able to treat certain conditions effectively without drugs (and are even able to avoid surgery in some cases) some members of the medical profession, particularly the pharmaceutical industry may feel protective of their livelihood. "50,000 pharmacies and 700,000 outlets for drugs add up to a 60 billion dollar a year industry, which has the highest profitability margin of any business in the United States." -Health Education Advancement Lyceum, 1993 February 7, 1990 marked a breakthrough in chiropractic history. Judge Getsendanner of the U.S District Court in Chicago found The American Medical Association (the defendants) guilty of engaging in a propaganda campaign to destroy the reputation and profession of chiropractic. There was evidence that the AMA purposely provided misinformation regarding the usefulness of chiropractic treatment, interfered with insurance reimbursements, and discouraged hospitals from providing diagnostic/treatment services to chiropractors and their patients. These unethical activities were used to insure that the medical profession maintained complete economic control over healthcare in the United States. There are studies being done that reveal not only the undeniable safety and effectiveness, but also the lower overall cost of chiropractic treatment as compared to medical care for the same condition. Nowadays people are looking for alternatives to medicine and surgery that work. They are realizing that the chiropractic philosophy and theory is a solid one. It makes sense. Back to Top