If you do an Internet search for “history of chiropractic,” you will find plenty of information on DD Palmer, who is said to have performed the first chiropractic adjustment in 1895. But you won’t find much information on the history of chiropractic techniques. Which were the first techniques performed? What is the timeline for the discovery or implementation of the various techniques that chiropractors use today? And most importantly, what are some successes chiropractors have had with various techniques?

I found some information in a March 17, 2006 press release from Palmer College of Chiropractic. The release announced Palmer’s creation of a technique registry that recognizes and maintains a record of chiropractors who have completed advanced studies in specific chiropractic adjusting techniques.

According to additional information presented in the release, the Meric system, tracing technique, and Palmer toggle recoil were among the chiropractic techniques performed in the early 1900s. In the 1970s and 1980s, Palmer offered courses in sacro-occipital technique, Grostic, Pettibon, Logan, Gonstead, Pierce, Thompson, and extremity adjusting.

In this month’s issue of Chiropractic Products, we are presenting our first Technique Showcase. In each article for the showcase, a chiropractor writes about a patient who was successfully treated using a specific adjusting technique. We are featuring six of the top techniques in this issue, and we plan to highlight other techniques in the months to come. This idea can be successful only if we continue to receive your input and you submit articles highlighting the success stories you have had with other adjusting methods.

Many of you are reading this from the Florida Chiropractic Association’s National Convention & Expo, which draws chiropractors from across the United States. You attend conferences because you want to gain knowledge and provide improved care to your patients. You also attend conferences to network with peers and meet with vendors to learn the latest business innovations that might give you ideas about how to increase your practice’s revenue.

Attending conferences, reading Chiropractic Products magazine, and reading other journals are great ways to get ideas from your peers about how to treat patients better and attract more new patients. Do some research on the neighborhoods surrounding your practice. It might work to your benefit if you learned a new technique that no other chiropractor in your area is using.

I have written several times about the great things the chiropractic profession could do if it put aside its differences, pooled its resources, and worked together to make sure that people begin to think of chiropractic more than they think of their medical doctors to help them stay healthy.

But in putting together this group of articles for our Technique Showcase, I also have begun to consider the other side of the argument. It is great to see all of the various methods chiropractors are using to help people feel their best. I believe the profession can grow stronger if all chiropractors became enthusiastic promoters of all the various techniques. Maybe the diversity of the chiropractic profession is something to celebrate, after all.