B.J. Palmer

Bartlett Joshua Palmer, son of the founder D.D. Palmer, is known as the "Developer of Chiropractic" — the man who turned his father's discovery into an organized, growing profession. In 1906, at the age of twenty-four, he took over the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Davenport and led it until his death in 1961. Under his direction the school grew from a handful of students into the most influential training institution in chiropractic worldwide.

B.J. Palmer was a tireless champion of the vitalistic core idea: that an intelligence inherent in the body — "Innate Intelligence" — governs health, and that subluxations of the spine disturb that governance. He systematized his father's philosophy across some 39 volumes, the so-called "Green Books," which remain the theoretical foundation of vitalistic chiropractic. His guiding phrase "Above-Down, Inside-Out" (ADIO) captured the direction of this life force in a formula that still echoes through the straight-chiropractic movement.

Palmer was also a pioneer of research and technology. In 1924 he introduced the neurocalometer, an instrument for measuring temperature differences along the spine in order to detect subluxations objectively. He developed the upper-cervical "Hole-In-One" (HIO) method and established one of the profession's first research-clinic structures at the Palmer School. Beyond chiropractic he was a broadcasting pioneer: his station WOC in Davenport was among the first radio stations in the American Midwest.

In 1926 B.J. Palmer founded the International Chiropractors Association (ICA), which to this day represents the vitalistic, subluxation-centered orientation of the profession. Known for his pointed aphorisms and his combative defense of chiropractic against organized medicine, he shaped the self-understanding of several generations of chiropractors. His legacy is the transformation of a single discovery into a distinct, philosophically grounded profession.