Celebrating Mabel Palmer - Women's History Month

Happy Women’s History Month – a celebration of women’s contributions to history, culture, and society. It’s a wonderful time to learn about someone new from history. 

Mabel Palmer, also known as the First Lady of Chiropractic, was hugely influential in the world of chiropractic. She graduated from the Palmer School of Chiropractic, Iowa, in 1905, further studying anatomy and dissection in Chicago before authoring the first anatomy textbook for Chiropractic students, entitled Anatomy, in 1918. 

After her publication, she returned to the Palmer School of Chiropractic, where she taught anatomy for four decades and founded Sigma Phi Chi, the world’s first chiropractic sorority! Palmer was also an avid traveler and writer. Her home in Iowa, where she resided with her husband and son, is now filled with the artifacts she gathered from her travels throughout her lifetime. 

Mabel was a leader and inspiration to female and male chiropractors around the US and further afield. She was elected international president of Quota Club, which promoted gender equality and empowered women. As a woman in the early 1900s, her ability to balance motherhood and lecturing was incredible. 

Palmer died in 1949, after which she was posthumously named a distinguished Fellow in the Palmer Academy of Chiropractic in 2006.

Additional Resources:

• Network Spinal Basics

Yours in Health & Wellness,

Drs. Suzanna and Kira