HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF CHIROPRACTIC

Chiropractic originates from the Greek word, ‘chiropraktikos’ meaning effective treatment by hand.

Certainly, since the beginnings of recorded history, there have existed individuals in some form, however untrained, who attempted to perform therapies by hand, just as early origins of medicine involved use of herbs, plants, etc, and earliest forms of untrained “surgeons” were very archaic.

ORIGINS and LEGAL REGULATION IN ONTARIO

Chiropractic has been governed by statute in Ontario since 1925, and is currently regulated by the College of Chiropractors of Ontario (CCO) through the Chiropractic Act (1991) which is part of the Regulated Health professions Act (RHPA) (1991).

The Canadian Chiropractic Association supports the protection of the public interest through the legislated establishment of independent regulatory authorities in each province (CCO in Ontario) in Canada that have the power to grant, suspend or remove a practitioner’s license to practice.

Under the RHPA, only medical doctors, chiropractors, dentists, optometrists and psychologists have the right and obligation to provide a diagnosis and to use the term, ‘doctor.’

The 1961 Royal Commission on Health Services, the 1966 Ontario Commission on Healing Arts, and the 1973 Ontario health Council of Health’s Task Force on Chiropractic all confirmed the benefits, safety, and efficacy of chiropractic care in Ontario.