Daniel David Palmer's heritage and his legacy of tone to chiropractic

Donald Arthur McDowall

doi:10.25918/thesis.121

This thesis examines the heritage of Daniel David Palmer (1845–1913), the founder of chiropractic, and his legacy of tone as chiropractic’s founding principle. Since its inception in midwest America in the 1890s, chiropractic has spread worldwide, where chiropractors work as allied health practitioners, using their unique spinal care skills. Today, approximately 100,000 chiropractors practise in more than 90 countries. Despite the growth, recognition and popularity of chiropractic, little is known about the heritage of its founder and his legacy of tone. As this investigation was concerned with the past, an historical methodology was used. This involved the systematic collection, objective evaluation and intensive study of hundreds of existing documents to derive inferences to better understand Palmer’s heritage and his concept of tone. Eight broad themes, each relating to a chapter, are used as the organisational framework for the historical material. Of these, the first two provide a review of the substantive literature, while in the remaining six chapters, the data is organised thematically into topics. In addition, three contentions are investigated in this thesis. From this investigation the following conclusions were determined. First, tone has roots from ancient Greek and Roman periods until the present. Second, no clear definition of the chiropractic concept of tone has emerged since Palmer’s time. Third, it appears that Palmer was influenced by his forebears who exhibited an interest in religion and healing together with a propensity to travel in search of a better way of life. Fourth, living during a period when science, medicine and health expanded, and other healthcare services emerged, was opportune for Palmer to investigate another form of healthcare. Fifth, Palmer’s occupations led to his conceptualisation of chiropractic. Sixth, promoting his work enabled Palmer to build awareness of chiropractic. Seventh, Palmer established schools where his ideas were taught. Finally, those who followed Palmer appear to have dismissed tone as a principle of chiropractic treatment. In terms of the three contentions, this investigation concluded that: influenced by his heritage, Palmer used well-thought-out strategies to promote his work which enabled chiropractic to expand exponentially; Palmer’s analogy of music to help others understand tone, has been largely overlooked; although chiropractic has flourished from its inception, the concept of tone began to wane from 1903 and by 1961 was of limited interest. This research determined that Palmer, the founder of chiropractic, is an important individual from the past who was influenced by his heritage. While Palmer’s principle of tone was the foundation for chiropractic, by 1961 his concept of tone had been largely lost, even though chiropractic continued to thrive.

Daniel David Palmer's heritage and his legacy of tone to chiropractic

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Daniel David Palmer's heritage and his legacy of tone to chiropractic

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