02/02/2026
Did you know that the first chiropractic patient was a black business owner. Even more interestingly, he experienced some loss of hearing due to the misalignment of his body and regained his hearing due to chiropractic!! Isn't that amazing!
Meet Harvey J. Lillard , a business owner of a janitorial business. In 1895, the story of chiropractic began with Harvey Lillard, a janitor who worked in the Ryan Building alongside D.D. Palmer. Lillard had lived in near silence for 17 years after a back injury sustained while stooping, believing his hearing loss was permanent. Palmer discovered a noticeable lump on Lillard’s spine, identified it as a displaced vertebra, and performed a manual adjustment, racking the vertebra back into position. Soon after, Lillard reported something remarkable: he could hear again, even the sounds of horses moving along the street outside. That moment bridged a bold idea to real human change, and it echoes into today’s chiropractic care, where practitioners continue to focus on the relationship between the spine, the nervous system, and the body’s innate ability to heal, turning small adjustments into meaningful shifts in quality of life. 🦴✨