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''LOOK TO THE SPINE'' THE HISTORY OF CHIROPRACTIC IN ALBERTA WB 905.6 by .C67 1995 ELISE A. CORBET C.1 ISBN 1-89665-00-4 © Copyright 1995 Elise A. Corbet and The College of Chiropractors of Alberta "Look to the Spine" CONTENTS Foreword ...... ....... .. ...... ...... ....... ..... ......... iii Preface .................. ..... ............ .... ........... v Acknowledgements ...... ................................. vii Introduction . .............. 1 Chapter 1. The Early Years of Struggle ........................ 7 Chapter 2. The Trials and Tribulations of Legislation .............. 23 Chapter 3. Growth and Development in the Post-War Years ......... 33 Chapter 4. Chiropractic Education ............................ 55 Chapter 5. The Alberta Chiropractic Association and its Members .... 67 Conclusion .............................................. 75 Appendix I. The first licensed chiropractors in the Province of Alberta. 84 Appendix II. Officers of the Alberta Chiropractic Association ........ 85 Appendix III. Sample of licencing examinations set for chiropractors in the 1920s . .................... 87 Endnotes ............................ .... .......... ...... 90 Bibliographical Note . .. ... ....... 96 Index ...... ......................... ....... ...... ...... 97 - i - "Look to the Spine" - ll - "Look to the Spine" FOREWORD he College of Chiropractors of Alberta is pleased to support this impor­ T tant work on the history of Chiropractic in Alberta. We celebrated our 75th anniversary last year and now join with other provinces to share the I OOth anniversary of chiropractic worldwide. Chiropractic stands upon a single century of history since its inception in 1895. Our profession is blessed with pioneers in our past that have contributed greatly and led us well to the present day. Alberta, the first province to enact chiropractic legislation, dedicates these historical writings to the early pioneers who laid the foundation for the acceptance and recog­ nition chiropractic enjoys today. This profession has grown to be recognized as a major force within health care circles although it was not always readily accepted. This record of the journey of the chiropractic profession must not only be written and documented, but also studied, so we can all understand the great contributions which have preceded us. In this way, we can set the course for the next I 00 years. This book gives testament to the historic themes our profession has shared and to the incredible health care implication the chiropractic profes­ sion has orchestrated in Alberta. It is the first formal written history of chiro­ practic to be completed in Canada. I am proud and honored to represent the College of Chiropractors of Alberta as President, in this time of reflection and rapid change. Our vision for chiropractic in Alberta cannot be clearly focused without an appreciation and acknowledgement of those chiropractors and events which have shaped our past. I would like to thank the College of Chiropractors of Alberta as well as the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation for making this opportunity possible. We offer special acknowledgement to Elise Corbet, an Historical Resource Consultant, to a number of Doctors of Chiropractic for their contri­ bution and especially Dr. Ron Carter who was instrumental in initiating and coordinating this project. Chiropractic is indeed a proud profession and this book will stand as a major contribution to our profession's library. Leslie D. Shaw, D.C. President, College of Chiropractors of Alberta. - iii - "Look to the Spine" - iv - "Look to the Spine" PREFACE t was my privilege and certainly an honor to be the historian for The I College of Chiropractors of Alberta and be involved with this book during our Chiropractic Centennial Year of 1995. I found myself in a unique posi­ tion of bridging the past and the present when viewing the history of chiro­ practic in Alberta. A few of my colleagues practising today had the opportunity to meet the first chiropractor in Calgary, Dr. Laura Boyle, who began practice in Alberta in 1915. This demonstrates the youth of our profes­ sion and attests to the speed at which chiropractic has developed in Alberta. This book is the most extensive historical study of chiropractic in Alberta. Our story was developed and told by Ms. Elise Corbet. She is a gifted historian who has studied the stages of our maturing and retells our past with truth and honesty when depicting the events and personalities which molded us into what we are today. These stories include our victories as well as our defeats. The reader's attention will be drawn to many individuals who left us the benefits we enjoy today because of their commitment and effort. Early prac­ titioners practised chiropractic under very difficult and threatening condi­ tions. Some went to jail for their convictions and the right to practise their profession while the families waiting for their release also paid a ptice for the establishment of chiropractic. Ms. Corbet's commitment to quality has made this text an excellent reference resource. She has demonstrated the importance of the preservation of our stimulating and exciting history. It was a most memorable and enjoy­ able opportunity for me to have worked with her and I thank her most sincerely for her efforts. I hope this book will stimulate and encourage all of us to investigate our rich heritage and write about the individuals and events of our past. By sharing this knowledge we begin to learn where we came from and with this knowledge better direct where we go in the future. J. Ronald Carter, D.C. Historian, College of Chiropractors of Alberta. - v - "Look to the Spine " - vi - "Look to the Spine" ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS would like to thank the Historical Committee of the College of ! Chiropractors of Alberta for giving me the opportunity to write this history of chiropractic in Alberta and participate in the 1OOth anniversary of the profession of chiropractic. Dr. J. Ronald Carter, the College's historian, was unfailingly co-opera­ tive and patient. His interest and enthusiasm for the project were contagious and I am grateful to him for his advice and suggestions. Drs. Murray Bowman and Keath Nevison were also extremely helpful and guided me to several avenues of research. I am grateful to those whom I interviewed; they shared their memories and insights with me and helped me develop a feeling for the profession over the years and the changes that took place. These included Drs. Norman Ibsen, Douglas Lawson Sr., Campbell McLeod and Thomas Sears. I spoke with Dr. Lavina Pederson on the subject of women in the profes­ sion and a telephone conversation with Dr. Donald Sutherland of Toronto was most useful in seeing the profession from a national perspective. Mrs. Roberta Watson, the widow of L.C. Watson, has put together a comprehen­ sive scrapbook of her husband's years as a chiropractor and I am grateful to her for sharing this with me. Ms. Peggy Sloan, the Executive-Director of the College, was most helpful and guided me to a corner of the photo-copying room where I found an immense amount of material that proved to be of great use in my research. I would also like to thank the staff of the Provincial Archives of Alberta, the City of Edmonton Archives, the University of Alberta Archives and the Glenbow Archives. And lastly, my thanks to Lindsay Moir of the Glenbow Library, for developing the Index for this book, an important adjunct to any book of this nature. Elise A. Corbet, M.A. Historical Resource Consultant. - vii - "Look to the Spine" - viii - INTRODUCTION he birth of chiropractic took place on September 18th, 1895, in TDavenport, Iowa, when Daniel David Palmer adjusted the fourth dorsal vertebra of Harvey Lillard, the janitor in his office building. Lillard had been deaf for a number of years and the affliction came upon him quite suddenly when he was bent over in an awkward position and "felt something give in his back." Palmer, at that time practising as a magnetic healer, reasoned that if a movement in a vertebra in the back had caused the deafness, then an adjustment or manipulation to restore the alignment of the spine should help to cure it. After the first adjustment to the vertebra, Lillard's hearing began to improve and after one or two more he could hear normally. "There was nothing 'accidental' about this," wrote Palmer, "as it was accomplished with an objective in view and the result expected was obtained." 1 D.D. Palmer was a Canadian, born in 1845 in Port Perry, Ontario where he spent the first twenty years of his life. He then moved to the United States where, initially, he taught school in various communities in Iowa. Later he operated a grocery store. A natural curiosity coupled with voracious reading gave him a wide knowledge of alternative forms of medicine and he devel­ oped a skill in magnetic healing which was achieving some success at that time. In 1887 Palmer opened an office in Davenport, where he advertised "cures without medicine" and apparently enjoyed some success as he had to lease more space in order to deal with his growing number of patients. 2 Encouraged by his initial success and after further investigations, Palmer began to practise his new theory which he called chiropractic. The word is taken from the two Greek words "cheir" meaning hand and "praktikos" - 1 - "Look to the Spine" meaning effective, commonly translated as "done by hand." The misalign­ ment of vertebrae he called subluxations; that is less than a luxation or dislo­ cation. Compression on the nerves of the spine was the major reason for disease, he reasoned, and this could be treated by adjustments or manipulation. Thus disease did not come from the outside, i.e. germs or bacteria, rather it came from within. When the body functioned normally it could withstand disease. Simply put, he believed that it was an interference with the nervous system through subluxations in the spine that caused disease and removal of these distortions would allow the body to heal itself through what he termed its "innate intelligence" or natural healing power.

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