09/18/2025
STORY TIME:
On September 18, 1895, history was made in a small office in Davenport, Iowa. D.D. Palmer was working with a patient named Harvey Lillard, a janitor who had gradually lost most of his hearing in years previous. Lillard described the onset of his condition after he had felt something āgiveā in his back while working in a cramped position. Ever observant, Palmer examined his spine and noted what he believed to be a misalignment.
Trusting both his studies of anatomy and his growing conviction that the body could heal itself if properly aligned, Palmer applied a careful, manual adjustment to Lillardās back. To their shared astonishment, Lillardās hearing improved.
For Palmer, this was not simply a fortunate coincidence. It was evidence that disruptions in the spine could affect the body in profound ways, and that correcting those disruptions could restore function. For Lillard, it meant relief from a condition that medicine of the time had failed to improve.
That single adjustment became the spark that lit an entirely new approach to healthcare. Palmer would call it āchiropractic,ā a term he created by combining Greek roots that mean ādone by hand.ā
