The story goes that Presbyterian minister Reverend Samuel Weed provided D.D. Palmer with a list of Greek words from which to pick the name of his new healing art. "Palmer looked them over and decided to use chiropractic from cheir, which means 'hand' in Greek, and praktos, meaning 'done.'"1 Similarly, Stephenson has defined chiropractic as "a philosophy, science and art of things natural; a system of adjusting the segments of the spinal column, by hand only, for the correction of the cause of dis-ease."2
Chiropractic philosophy author Sinnott3 argues that "by hands only" was meant by the Founder to differentiate chiropractic from the practice of surgery, as there was great concern that surgeons would invade the practice of chiropractic, since many MDs became chiropractors in those early years. Sinnott goes on to say that D.D. did not advocate for the use of tools to adjust and that "BJ Palmer did not feel instrument adjusting was appropriate due to the fact that patient relaxation could not be perceived properly to time the adjustic thrust. The issue of sensing patient relaxation is repeated throughout his writings."3
B.J. Palmer displayed a set of mallets and wooden chisels at the Palmer School of Chiropractic (PSC) that others had used to apply corrective forces to the spine, and said the following: "The above spine-sets and their drivers may be seen at the P.S.C. I do not approve of their use, as they do not come within done by hand."4
In spite of these facts, the profession has a history of methods in which the doctor's hands are supplemented with mechanical devices to assist in the correction of the chiropractic lesion. With that said, let's look at the history of the use of instruments to apply adjusting forces to the spine.
The Original Instrument Adjusters
Figure 1 is a composite picture of the PSC classes of 1899 through 1901. The two gentlemen on the far right were the first graduates of the PSC to utilize instruments to adjust the segments of the spine, in spite of the fact that their mentor did not believe it was appropriate practice under the umbrella of chiropractic methods.
Thomas Storey, DO, DC (Figure 2) was a Canadian immigrant who practiced in Duluth, Minn., as a vitapathic physician (similar to a magnetic healer with some folk remedies thrown in the mix). Storey claimed to have attended McGill University Medical School in Montreal; however, there is no evidence to support that claim. He obtained his osteopathic degree from a diploma mill in Chicago, Ill. Class of 1901 at PSC with Solon Langworthy and E.E. Sutton, Storey told that he was only taught by D.D. Palmer to adjust thoracic and lumbar vertebrae. He developed what he called the mallet and wedge technique to adjust cervical vertebrae. He taught these methods to other Minnesotan chiropractors.5
Solon Massey Langworthy, DO, DC6-7 was born and bred in Iowa. Like Storey, he had studied osteopathic methods prior to attending the PSC. In the early years of the profession he would become the principal rival of the Davenport Palmers and achieved a number of firsts in the profession:
Upon his graduation from the PSC, Langworthy established a private practice in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and built that practice into a bustling enterprise, earning an annual income that would equate to more than $230,000 in today's money.8
In 1905 he submitted a patent to the United States Patent Office for what was titled a "surgical table."9 The table is really a chiropractic adjusting table with an adjusting instrument built into the cranial end of the device (Figure 3).
Langworthy explains the use of the adjusting instrument, called the "lateral tension device" in the patent itself:
"In the use of the machine, the patient is placed in position, the head and feet secured as described, and then the body is extended by means of the stretching device. The spinal column is then tense and in suitable condition for the treatment of any particular vertebra so as to adjust it to a proper position. The lateral tension device is accordingly set so that the applicator will bear on the part in question, and at precisely the right angle. Then by slow pressure, as by turning of the screw, or a sudden thrust, as by striking the applicator rod with a rubber mallet, the faulty member is forced to a proper position."9
Figure 5 depicts Langworthy using his adjusting device on an actual patient.
Editor's Note: Part 2 of this article appears in the August 2019 digital edition and discusses upper-cervical instruments, along with Activator Methods Chiropractic Technique. The author notes that this is an abridged history of adjusting tools and does not include more recent innovations. Complete references accompany part 2 of this article.
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