With D.D. Palmer's experience in the health care scene, he became interested in the body's ability to naturally heal itself. He performed his first spinal adjustment in 1895 and from there, he founded his own chiropractic school, Palmer School and Cure.

1. A CHIROPRACTIC TIMELINEA CHIROPRACTIC TIMELINE
HISTORY PALMER COLLEGEHISTORY PALMER COLLEGEOFOF
The history of chiropractic goes hand in hand with the history of its founding school, Palmer College of
Chiropractic. Although restoring spinal health has been in existence for thousands of years, the first chiropractic
adjustment started when D.D. Palmer believed he could help people by correcting spinal misalignments and
restoring proper function to the nervous system, helping the body to heal naturally.
2700 B.C.2700 B.C.
Writings from China
and Greece mention
spinal manipulation
and describe
maneuvering the legs
to ease low-back pain.
D.D. Palmer performs the first
chiropractic adjustments in Davenport,
Iowa, restoring one man’s hearing and
relieving another person of heart trouble.
1500 B.C.1500 B.C.
18951895 18971897
D.D. Palmer
opens the
Palmer School
and Cure to
teach his
techniques to
others.
19021902Palmer’s school graduates
its 15th chiropractor.
Dr. B.J. Palmer buys the school
from his father, D.D., and
proceeds to expand the field of
chiropractic.
Arkansas and North
Dakota become the
first states to issue
chiropractic licenses
to chiropractic school
graduates.
Palmer enrollment
exceeds 3,000.
D.D. Palmer is first referred
to as “The Fountainhead” of
chiropractic knowledge.
19061906
19151915
19101910
19221922
19611961
Palmer opens a new campus in
California, eventually moving it to
its current location in San Jose.
George Goodheart, DC, selected
to be Team USA’s chiropractor
for the Winter Olympic Games
in Lake Placid, N.Y.
The College establishes its own
research center, the Palmer Center for
Chiropractic Research, which has
become the largest and most highly
funded chiropractic research effort.
Palmer adds a third
campus, this one in
Port Orange, Fla.
A government study
reveals that more than
40 million people have
received chiropractic
care and exhibit a
rising interest in
alternative medicine.
THE PALMER FAMILY TREETHE PALMER FAMILY TREE
“Get knowledge of the spine, for this
is the requisite for many diseases.
—Hippocrates, 460-357 B.C.
”
“
There can be no healing without teaching.
—D.D. Palmer
”
Early Palmer graduates were urged to teach as well as practice. And they did: a majority
of the nation’s Doctor of Chiropractic schools sprang from Palmer alumni.
www.palmer.edu
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19411941
19731973
19761976
19801980
19871987
19951995
19991999
20072007
20112011
20152015
20042004
20022002
“Nature needs no
help, just no
interference.
—B.J. Palmer
”
B.J.’s son, Dr. David D. Palmer,
assumes presidency of the school his
grandfather founded and changes its
name to Palmer College of Chiropractic
-- the first step toward accreditation.
NCA communication on
education standards issues first
accreditations for chiropractic
education. Palmer is regarded
as “gold standard” for
chiropractic education.
Chiropractors designated as physician-level
providers in Medicare policies.
Wilk v.
American
Medical
Association
lawsuit filed.
Federal Judge Getzendanner ruled in
favor of chiropractic in Wilk v.
American Medical Association.
First NIH
funded grant
for chiropractic
research.
American College of Physicians and
American Pain Society jointly
recommend that clinicians consider
chiropractic for patients who do not
improve with self-care options.
First Gallup-Palmer research report on Americans’
Perceptions of Chiropractic conducted.
First DoD/VA grant for
chiropractic research.
NEW YORK
CHIROPRACTIC COLLEGE
1919
Founded by
Craig Kightlinger, Palmer
School of Chiropractic &
Frank Dean, Standard School
of Chiropractic.
UNIVERSITY OF
WESTERN STATES
1904
Traces its roots to D.D.
Palmer’s Portland school.
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
OF HEALTH SCIENCES
1906
Founded by
John F.A. Howard
TEXAS CHIROPRACTIC
COLLEGE
1908
Founded by
J.N. Stone
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
UNIVERSITY
OF HEALTH SCIENCES
1911
Founded by
Charles Cale – studied under
a Palmer graduate
CLEVELAND
CHIROPRACTIC COLLEGE
KANSAS CITY
1922
Founded by
Carl Cleveland I
NORTHWESTERN HEALTH
SCIENCES UNIVERSITY
1941
Founded by
John Wolfe
SHERMAN COLLEGE
OF CHIROPRACTIC
1973
Founded by
Thom Gelardi
LIFE UNIVERSITY AND
LIFE CHIROPRACTIC
COLLEGE WEST
1975
Founded by
Sidney Williams
PARKER UNIVERSITY
1978
Founded by
James Parker
PALMER COLLEGE
OF CHIROPRACTIC
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