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The First Chiropractic Success Story The Healing of Harvey Lillard

10.05.2009 · Posted in Health Articles

Precious little is known about the man who would make history as the first chiropractic success story, Mr. Harvey Lillard. All the information that is recorded for posterity comes down from his benefactor and healer, Daniel Palmer, the father of chiropractic medicine. It is said that Mr. Lillard worked as a janitor in the general vicinity where Mr. Palmer kept his office. As a manual laborer during the time of the industrial revolution, it is easy to extrapolate that he engaged in hard work that often took place in less than safe and favorable work environments. rnrnAccording to Mr. Palmer, Mr. Lillard became suddenly deaf when he was working in a small space that demanded an awkward tilt of the back and shoulders. According to the janitor’s recollections, there was a feeling of shifting in his back as well as a pop, and immediately the man’s hearing diminished to the point of deafness. For 17 years Mr. Lillard remained in this state and was unable to receive any relief or cure for his ailment. rnrnIt fascinated Mr. Palmer to hear the story about the aggravation of the spine and he assumed that a vertebra had slipped and perhaps pinched a nerve or decimated the blood flow to areas vital to hearing. With Mr. Lillard’s consent, in 1895 Mr. Palmer sought to undo what had happened 17 years prior, and figured that if the vertebra was put back into place, then the nerves that were pinched or the blood flow that was diminished would be restored to normal and hearing would return. Upon realigning the spine, Mr. Lillard’s hearing returned. rnrnIt is uncertain whether Mr. Lillard’s hearing returned after one visit to Mr. Palmer’s office, or if it took several. Similarly, it is not quite clear if the hearing returned suddenly and all at once

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