Therapeutic system for curing ailments by adjustments and manipulation of various body parts, particularly the spinal column. The system is based on the theory that all disease is traceable to nervous malfunctions, usually caused by misalignment of the spinal column. Although the chiropractic method of healing was known among the ancients, in the modern era it was founded in about 1895 by Daniel Palmer, a Canadian-born practitioner who opened (1898) the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa.