The actual profession of chiropractic as a distinct form of health care dates back to around 1895, although even the Greek physician Hippocrates (460-370 BC), known as the "father of medicine," noted that one should "get knowledge of the spine, for this is the requisite of many diseases." Herodotus, a contemporary of Hippocrates, gained some fame with his use of therapeutic exercises to cure diseases. When a patient was unable to perform these exercises, Herodotus would do the work with his hands, manipulating the spine, which reportedly led the philosopher Aristotle to register a criticism of his "tonic-free" approach that might well, then and now, have sent older men rushing to their nearest chiropractor.
"Herodotus," Aristotle complained, "made old men young and thus prolonged their lives too greatly."