1895 |
D.D. Palmer commences practice as a “chiropractor.” |
1897 |
The Palmer School of Chiropractic, the first chiropractic educational institution, opens. |
1913 |
Kansas becomes the first U.S. state to recognize and license the practice of chiropractic. Louisiana became the last state in 1974. |
1923 |
Alberta becomes the first province to license chiropractic practice in Canada. Ontario follows in 1925. Newfoundland is the last province, in 1992. |
1933 |
The U.S. Council of State Chiropractic Examining Boards is established with a mandate to provide unified standards for licensure. Renamed the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards (FCLB) in 1974. |
1939 |
The Canton of Zurich, Switzerland, becomes the first jurisdiction outside North America to license the practice of chiropractic. |
1944 |
The Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research (FCER) is established and becomes the profession’s foremost agency for funding of postgraduate scholarship and research. |
1963 |
The U.S. National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE) is established to promote consistency and reciprocity between state examining boards. |
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 |
Chiropractic in New Zealand, the report of the NZ Commission of Inquiry into Chiropractic, is published. 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. The Commission’s recommendations strongly endorse chiropractic services and call for medical cooperation. The report has a major impact internationally. |
1987 |
Final judgment in the Wilk vs American Medical Association case entered, opening 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 chiropractic services, recommends a primary role for chiropractors with back pain patients on grounds of safety, cost-effectiveness and patient preference, and concludes this will save hundreds of millions annually in direct health care costs and work disability payments. |
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). |
2002 |
The US Congress introduces chiropractic Services in the military health system then, in 2004, throughout the veterans’ administration healthcare system. |
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. |