We have the resources which document D.D. Palmer's landmark first adjustment on September, 1895, including Lillard's personal testimony reprinted in D.D. Palmer's journal The Chiropractor and pictures of Harvey Lillard, the first chiropractic patient.
“I was deaf 17 years and I expected to always remain so, for I had doctored a great deal without any benefit. I had long ago made up my mind to not take any more ear treatments, for it did me no good. Last January Dr. Palmer told me that my deafness came from an injury in my spine. This was new to me; but it is a fact that my back was injured at the time I went deaf. Dr. Palmer treated me on the spine; in two treatments I could hear quite well. That was eight months ago. My hearing remains good."
- HARVEY LILLARD, 320 W. Eleventh St., Davenport, Iowa
Harvey Lillard's testimony appears in the The Chiropractor, January, 1897. A copy of this original testimony can be viewed in the Special Collections and Archives.
This is a 1956 painting by Chester Paciorek of D.D. Palmer adjusting Harvey Lillard in 1895.
Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact source for permission to use.
First Patient of Chiropractic
This is a photograph of Harvey Lillard ca. 1895, at the time when he received the first chiropractic adjustment from D.D. Palmer.
Photographs are copyrighted by Palmer College of Chiropractic. For permission to use, contact us.