1895

Daniel David Palmer commences practice as a “chiropractor.” after he adjusts the spine of a deaf janitor and observes vast improvements in his condition.

1897

Daniel David Palmer opens the first chiropractic educational institution to train others in the field. 

1913

U.S. states have begun to recognize and license the practice of chiropractic, with Kansas being the first. Louisiana was the last state in 1974.

1914

The first trained Chiropractic, Dr Henry Otterholt, arrived in Dunedin, New Zealand. Tom Giles has already been practising in New Zealand since 1910 and soon goes abroad for training. 

1922

The New Zealand Chiropractors’ Association is established.

1923

Canada also introduced licenced practises. Alberta is the first and Ontario follows in 1925. Newfoundland was the last province, in 1992.

1933

As chiropractors practise grows, the U.S. Council of State Chiropractic Examining Boards is established to help regulate and provide unified standards for licensure..

1939

Chiropractic practise spreads outside North America and The Canton of Zurich, Switzerland, becomes the first jurisdiction outside North America to license the practice of chiropractic.

1944

The Foundation for Chiropractors Education and Research (FCER) is established and becomes the profession’s foremost agency for funding of postgraduate scholarship and research.

1960

New Zealand passes the Chiropractors Act. New Zealand was the first country to have established legislation to govern the chiropractic profession. 

1974

The U.S. Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) is recognized by the federal government as the accrediting agency for schools of chiropractic. This leads to the development of affiliated agencies in Australasia, Canada, Europe and most recently Latin America.

1979

A stand out point not just in New Zealand, but globally was The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the chiropractic profession.

This was to assess the merits of having chiropractors treatments subsidised by the government and funded by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) This was the first government commission to adopt a full judicial procedure, hearing evidence on oath and subject to cross-examination when examining patients, chiropractors, medical doctors and others on the role of the chiropractic profession. 

1987

A lawsuit against the American Medical Association (known as Wilk vs American Medical Association) rules against the American Medical Association. It was found that the American Medical Association actively attempted to discredit the practise of chiropractic. A primary method to achieve this goal was to make it unethical for medical physicians to professionally associate with chiropractors.

This ruling opens the way for much greater cooperation between medical and chiropractic doctors in education, research and practice in the U.S. and, as a result, internationally.

1988

World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) is formed. The WFC, whose members are national associations of chiropractors in over 85 countries, is admitted into official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO) as a non-governmental organization or NGO in January 1997.

1993

The Manga Report in Canada, the first government-commissioned report by health economists looking at the cost-effectiveness of chiropractors services.

The report recommends that chiropractors have a key role in managing back pain patients as it’s cost effective, safe and enjoyed by patients. 

1994

Government-sponsored expert panels developing evidence-based guidelines for the management of patients with back pain in the U.S. (Agency for Health Care Policy and Research) and the U.K. (Clinical Standards Advisory Group) provide the first authoritative reports that manipulation is a proven and preferred treatment approach for most acute low-back pain patients.

1996

U.S. government begins official funding support for an ongoing agenda for chiropractic research through the National Institutes of Health.

1998

The first year in which there were more chiropractic schools outside the United States (17) than in the United States (16). By 2007 there were 23 recognized schools outside the United States, most recently schools in Japan, Malaysia and Spain (2007).

2005

WHO publishes the WHO Guidelines on Basic Training and Safety in Chiropractic, recommending educational standards for the recognition and regulation of chiropractic services in all member countries. By 2009 these are printed in Arabic, Chinese, English, Finnish, French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish.