• Bovine G

• Chiropractic / history
• Hippocrates
• Manipulation, Chiropractic / history

Some of the earliest written evidence of spinal manipulation can be traced back to the works of the Greek physician Hippocrates.  Hippocrates used a manual method of manipulation on the spine, described as a pressure of compression technique.  In recent years authors have compared this to a chiropractic high velocity thrust manipulation, using the writings of Hippocrates for documentation. This paper will disprove this comparison, and although there were instances of some ancient writers who wrote of Hippocrates as using pushing methods of manipulation, Hippocrates' original writings suggest that the method was a pressure or compression technique.  The origins of the comparisons with chiropractic are discussed and the earliest known illustrations of this manual method of treatment are also included.

This abstract is reproduced with the permission of the publisher ;full text is available by subscription.