Chiropractic (from the Greek “chiros” for “hand”) is an ancient treatment method. Even before the ancient Greeks, people in India knew that spine-related illnesses could be treated by hand.
Hippocrates already said: “The spine carries cause and effect in one”, and described that vertebrae had to be put back into place. There are records of manual treatment of the spine since the Middle Ages. In the later Middle Ages, this method passed to lay healers and only became respectable again in the 19th century via America and Switzerland. For a long time it was thought that dislocations or trapped nerves played a role, which is why these terms are still used today, even though they are not accurate.
Chiropractic as we know it today was developed in Germany after the Second World War by Dr. Karl Sell and others from elements of osteopathy and chiropractic, and has been continuously improved since then.