The First Chiropractic Textbook

By Michael Dorausch, D.C.

We can’t write enough about D.D. Palmer, the father of Chiropractic, especially his early contributions that in many ways are only today beginning to be recognized by science.

D.D. Palmer’s History

D.D. Palmer was born on March 7, 1845, in Pickering Township, Canada West (now Ontario, Canada), in a small hamlet called Brown’s Corners. He grew up in a modest environment and emigrated to the United States in 1865 at the age of 20, settling in Iowa. Palmer was a man of varied interests and professions (schoolteacher, beekeeper, grocer, and eventually a magnetic healer) before founding chiropractic. His curiosity about health and healing was shaped by the alternative medicine movements of the 19th century, including spiritualism and magnetic healing, which he practiced in Davenport, Iowa, starting in 1886.

Palmer’s pivotal moment came on September 18, 1895, when he performed what he claimed was the first chiropractic adjustment. The story involves Harvey Lillard, a janitor in Palmer’s building, who had been partially deaf for 17 years after hearing a “pop” in his back. Palmer noticed a misaligned vertebra, adjusted it by hand, and reportedly restored Lillard’s hearing. This event inspired Palmer to develop a new theory of health centered on spinal alignment.

In 1897, Palmer founded the Palmer School and Cure (later Palmer College of Chiropractic) in Davenport, formalizing his methods. He faced legal challenges, including arrests for practicing medicine without a license, culminating in a 1906 conviction that led to jail time. Palmer’s relationship with his son, B.J. Palmer, who later became a key figure in chiropractic’s development, was strained; D.D. sold the school to B.J. in 1906 and moved to establish other schools elsewhere. Palmer died on October 20, 1913, in Los Angeles, CA.

Palmer’s worldview blended science, philosophy, and spirituality. He claimed inspiration from a spirit, Dr. Jim Atkinson, during a séance, reflecting his roots in spiritualism. He saw chiropractic as both a scientific practice and a moral duty, often framing it in religious terms, though he stopped short of calling it a formal religion.

The First Chiropractic Textbook

Palmer’s first comprehensive work, The Chiropractor’s Adjuster: Text-book of the Science, Art and Philosophy of Chiropractic for Students and Practitioners, was published in 1910 (though some sources note its compilation was finalized posthumously in 1914 by his widow). This book is considered the foundational chiropractic textbook, encapsulating Palmer’s theories and methods. It wasn’t the very first chiropractic text (that distinction goes to Modernized Chiropractic (1906) by Langworthy, Smith, and others, which Palmer criticized) but it was the first to fully articulate his vision.

In The Chiropractor’s Adjuster, Palmer lays out chiropractic as a distinct science, art, and philosophy. He emphasizes the spine’s role in health, introducing the concept of vertebral subluxation (misalignments that interfere with nerve function) as the root cause of most diseases. The book covers topics like nerve vibration, inflammation, vertebral adjusting, and the nervous system, blending empirical observations with metaphysical ideas.

Palmer on “Tone”

Palmer’s concept of “tone” is central to his chiropractic philosophy and is detailed extensively in The Chiropractor’s Adjuster. He writes, “Life is the expression of tone. In that sentence is the basic principle of Chiropractic. Tone is the normal degree of nerve tension. Tone is expressed in functions by normal elasticity, activity, strength and excitability of the various organs, as observed in a state of health.” For Palmer, tone represents the optimal state of nerve tension (neither too high nor too low) that allows the body to function harmoniously.

He viewed the nervous system as the conduit for “Innate Intelligence,” a vital force that governs health. When the spine is properly aligned, the neuroskeleton (the skeletal framework protecting and regulating the nervous system) maintains this normal tone, ensuring healthy tissue elasticity and organ function. Palmer states, “The condition known as TONE is the tension and firmness, the renitency and elasticity of tissue in a state of health, normal existence.” Dis-ease, in contrast, arises when tone is disrupted (either intensified or diminished) due to subluxations pressing on nerves, altering their “carrying capacity.”

Palmer’s idea of tone ties into his broader theory of the neuroskeleton as a “regulator of tension.” He believed that bones, particularly vertebrae, act as levers to adjust nerve tension, and subluxations throw this balance off, producing a “disordered state” he called dis-ease. His focus on tone was revolutionary for its time, suggesting a dynamic interplay between structure, nerve function, and vitality.

Palmer on “Stress” to the Nervous System

While Palmer doesn’t use the modern term “stress” in the psychological sense we recognize today, he frequently discusses stressors to the nervous system in terms of physical and functional disturbances, particularly through subluxations. In The Chiropractor’s Adjuster, he asserts, “Displacement of any part of the skeletal frame may press against nerves, which are the channels of communication, intensifying or decreasing their carrying capacity, creating either too much or not enough functionating, an aberration known as dis-ease.”

For Palmer, this pressure or interference (essentially a form of manifested mechanical stress) disrupts the nervous system’s ability to transmit Innate Intelligence. He writes, “When the neuroskeleton presses on the nervous system rather than protecting it, the nervous system is being injured. This pressure affects the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. Transmission of impulses are disturbed, which also disturbs vibrations, heat, and ultimately functions.” This disturbance in nerve function is what he links to abnormal tone and, consequently, dis-ease.

Palmer also connects this stress to broader causes, including “trauma, toxins, and auto-suggestion,” suggesting that physical injury, toxins (such as environmental chemicals) , and often mental factors could misalign the spine and strain the nervous system. He saw subluxations as producing “nerve tension”, which could manifest as “too much or not enough functionating” hyperactivity or hypoactivity of organs depending on the degree and location of the stress.

Synthesis and Reflection

Palmer’s ideas about tone and nervous system stress are intertwined. Tone is the ideal state, and stress (via subluxation) is the disruptor. He believed that adjusting the spine to relieve this stress restores tone, allowing Innate Intelligence to flow freely and heal the body. His emphasis on the nervous system as the master regulator predates modern understandings of neurophysiology.

Palmer’s focus on tone as a balance of tension foreshadows later biomechanical and neurological insights. Palmer’s blend of spirituality and science reflects the 19th-century zeitgeist, where alternative healing sought to challenge orthodox medicine’s dominance.

You can order this book at either the Palmer Bookstore of Sherman Chiropractic Bookstore, I have no financial affiliation to either.