History

 "...manipulation is safe and effective for patients in the first month of acute low back symptoms..."– The Clinical Practice Guideline, 1994

Chiropractic has been practiced in America for over 100 years, but has an ageless place in the evolution of health care. Hippocrates, the "father of modern medicine," utilized "manipulation" in his treatment techniques. The early Chinese are also said to have included "manipulation" thousands of years ago. The role of chiropractic in our health care system is well-established. Chiropractors are licensed in all 50 states with many accredited chiropractic universities nationwide. There are over 1,500 licensed Chiropractors in Wisconsin.

Chiropractic History Dates

• 1895 D.D. Palmer commences practice as a "chiropractor" in davenport, Iowa.
• 1897 The Palmer School of Chiropractic, the first chiropractic institution, opens.
• 1905 Minnesota becomes the first U.S. state to recognize and license the practice of chiropractic. Louisiana became the last state to in 1974
• 1923 Alberta becomes the first province to license chiropractic in Canada. Ontario follows in 1925. Newfoundland is the last province, in 1992.
• 1933 The U.S. council of State Chiropractic Examining Boards is established with a mandate to provide unified standards for licensure. Renamed the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards (FCLB) in 1974.
• 1939 The Canton of Zurich, Switzerland, becomes the first jurisdiction outside North America to license the practice of chiropractic.
• 1944 The Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research (FCER) is established and, to the present time, is the profession's foremost agency for funding of postgraduate scholarship and research.
• 1963 The U.S. National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE) is established to promote consistency and reciprocity between state examining boards.
• 1974 The U.S. Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) is recognized by the federal government as the accrediting agency for schools of chiropractic. This leads to the development of affiliated accrediting agencies in Canada, Europe and Australia/New Zealand.
• 1979 Chiropractic in New Zealand, the report of the NZ Commission of Inquiry into Chiropractic, is published. This was the first government commission to adopt a full judicial procedure, hearing evidence on oath and subject to cross-examination when examining patients, chiropractors, medical doctors and others on the role of the chiropractic profession. The Commission's recommendations strongly endorse chiropractic services and call for medical cooperation. The report has a major impact internationally.
• 1987 Final judgement in the Wilk vs American Medical Association case entered, opening the way for much greater cooperation between medical and chiropractic doctors in education, research and practice in the U.S. and, as a result, internationally.
• 1988 World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) is formed. The WFC, whose members are national associations of chiropractors in over in over 70 countries, is admitted into official relation with the World Health Organization (WHO) as a non-governmental organization or NGO in January 1997.
• 1993 The Magna Report in Canada, the first government-commissioned report by health economists looking looking at the cost-effectiveness of chiropractic services, recommends a primary role for chiropractors with back pain patients on grounds of safety, costeffectiveness and patient preference, and concludes this will save hundreds of millions annually in direct health care costs and work disability payments.
• 1994 Government-sponsored expert panels developing evidence-based guidelines for the management of patients with back pain in the U.S. ( Agency for Health Care Policy and Research) and the U.K. (clinical Standards Advisory Group) provide the first authoritative reports that manipulation is a proven and preferred treatment approach for most acute low-back pain patients.
• 1996 U.S. government begins official funding support for an ongoing agenda for chiropractic research. To continue this agenda the Construal Center for Chiropractic Research is formed in 1997, compressing chiropractic schools, university research departments and federal government agencies, and is based at Palmer College of Chiropractic.
• REFERENCE- Chapman-Smith, David. "The Chiropractic Profession." NCMIC Group Inc. 2000: pp12.