Jun 07 2010 When Daniel David Palmer, the inventor of
chiropractic, and his acolytes first took up the practice of
chiropractic, around the turn of the last century, they were
jailed for the unlicensed practice of medicine. If history had
left them there, we might not be fighting a continuing battle
with the pseudoscience that is “alternative” medicine today.
Unfortunately, the Kansas legislature intervened on the
chiropractors’ behalf and passed the first chiropractic practice
act in 1913. Over the years, state by state, the notions that
subluxations interfere with nerve flow, causing ill health, and
that only chiropractors could “correct” these subluxations,
thereby restoring health, were incorporated into state law. As
well, chiropractors were given a broad scope of practice and
allowed to call themselves “doctor.” In 1974, Louisiana’s
passage of a chiropractic practice act made chiropractic legal
in all 50 states. Acupuncturists and naturopaths copied this
successful formula by convincing state legislatur