Friday, December 30, 2011

The History of Chiropractor Manipulations

By David Greene


History or Chiropractic Medicine

Although there is some debate as to the validity of this, September 18, 1895 is considered by most sources to be the birthdate of the chiropractic practice. The story goes that a man was working when he injured his back and subsequently became deaf. Something to the effect of 17 years passed when Daniel David Palmer (1845-1913) upon hearing the man's plight performed the first chiropractic adjustment.

Palmers Legacy

Palmer's idea was that if the gentleman had a back injury and that caused him to become deaf then if he fixed the back problem this hearing should come back. The story is that Palmer manipulated the gentleman's neck and back and the person's hearing came back. And that is how chiropractic treatment was supposedly born.

The first licensed chiropractors came in 1913, by 1931, 39 states licensed chiropractors. Today, over 60,000 chiropractors perform their services in the United States. All 50 states and U.S territories officially recognize chiropractic as a health care profession.

Many other countries also recognize chiropractic as a specialty of medicine, including Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, Australia, Japan and Switzerland.

Chiropractic Theory

Chiropractic theory is that in order for the body to be healthy everything must be in tune. When spinal misalignment occurs this could be a result of birth defects, poor posture, a car accident, and then chiropractic techniques are instituted to achieve vertebral realignment.

With spinal misalignment happening, there can be pressure placed on the bodies nerve roots with pain resulting.

For example, if there is a problem with vertebral alignment and that is placing pressure on one of surrounding nerve roots, the person may end up with sciatica and have trouble functioning and walking.

Subluxation is the term for this vertebral misalignment, which actually means a partial dislocation of the joint which can be corrected by spinal manipulation by a chiropractor doctor. In addition, the doctor may suggest specific exercises to be performed at home to help maintain the proper alignment.

Risk Factors

There are opponents to chiropractic that say there is no evidence that proves chiropractic actually does anything. And further, there is evidence to suggest that unnecessary treatments do more harm than good. There is evidence that shows that neck manipulation may pose a small risk of stroke as the carotid artery may be damaged during treatment.

One rare risk seen with chiropractic neck adjustments is paralysis. The risk of this is about 1 and 1 million. There have been a few cases of quadriplegia or paraplegia from improper neck manipulations. So make sure to check out the reputation of the chiropractor you are thinking about seeing and just know that there are some slight risks associated with the substantial benefits of spinal adjustments.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment

Check this link for other related articles:

My Random Articles

Yey Health