The Impact of History Canada honours D.D. Palmer and the profession Unveiling the plaque honouring D.D. Palmer. Left to right: Dr. Robert Haig, executive director, OCA; Hon. Bev Oda, MP, Durham Region, federal Minister for International Cooperation; Marilyn Pearce, mayor, Township of Scugog. dr. James p. Laws is a 1979 graduate of CMCC, and graduated from York University in 1973. he has taught at CMCC, York Uni- versity and McMaster University and is the author of a textbook on the chiropractic treatment of the lower limb. dr. Laws has a special interest in the management of extremity joints and all sports- related health care, as well as an ongoing interest in the history and development of chiropractic and other health-care professions. dr. Laws is in private practice at the athletic therapy and Chiropractic Clinic in downtown toronto. he can be contacted at 416-961-5400. D aniel David (D.D.) Palmer is the acknowledged founder of modern chiropractic – this article tells the story of how we now have a plaque that reaffirms this fact. But the plaque, installed by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, also affirms the fact that the profession and its founder not only have historical significance, but are recog- nized as an integral and noteworthy part of Canadian society. Every chiropractor in Canada can take pride in the connection between Port Perry, Ontario, Canada – where the founder was raised – and the discovery of chiropractic, on September 18, 1895, in Davenport, Iowa. On that fateful day, Palmer tested one of his theories – that by realigning the bones of the spine with his hands, he could restore health. He delivered the first chiropractic adjust- ment to the first chiropractic patient, a deaf gentleman named Harvey Lillard. He restored Lillard’s hearing with that adjustment. D.D. Palmer went on to theorize that by adjusting the bones to remove interference to the flow of nerve energy, health could be restored. He further concluded that the brain and nervous system were the command and control systems that regulated the function of all the other systems in the body. He established the chiropractic principle that if interference to the flow of nerve impulses is removed, the body will be self-regulating. Therefore, the body has the power to heal itself and chiropractic can help to maintain this power at an optimum level. THE CONTEXT OF PALMER’S DISCOVERY D.D. Palmer’s discovery and accompanying theories occurred at a time when Andrew Taylor Still, the discoverer of the American school of osteopathy, developed the “rule of the artery” and theorized that the circulatory system, powered by the heart, was the dominant system that controlled all other systems in the body. This was also at a time when conventional medicine used bloodletting and leeches along with various proprietary medicines to treat illness and disease. In our postmodern era, science and especially neurophysiology, would tell us that it is the brain and nervous system that regulate the function of all other systems in the body. Science and innovation has verified, and enabled the chiropractic profession to build upon, the early theories of D.D. Palmer. 8 • Canadian ChiropraCtor | dECEMBEr 2009 www.canadianchiropractor.ca James p. Laws, Ba, Ca.t.(C), dC, FCCSS(C)(hon) feature
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