Introduction
Back in the 70’s in my early years of practice, I was practicing in Bordeaux - France, full of energy and enthusiasm; I was discovering how chiropractic was so wonderful. At that time, we were few chiropractors and people were travelling distances to come to Bordeaux to receive care, some were coming among other places, from the lovely town of Périgueux; I was invited to open a satellite practice there. For many years I thought I had been the first to bring chiropractic until I read the ICA report of 2020, which link is on this page. I learnt that in fact a chiropractor by the name of S.T. McMurrain had been giving care to victims of the terrible 1918 Spanish flu, at the Périgueux American Base Hospital # 84. His patients were not common back pain sufferer but people truly fighting for their life.
The intersection of the 1918 Spanish Influenza pandemic and early chiropractic history provides a fascinating window into early 20th-century healthcare.
The historical statistics commonly cited by the chiropractic profession, alongside the specific details of Dr. McMurrain’s life and service record, reveal how the crisis served as a pivotal historical milestone for chiropractic.
1. Early 20th-Century Chiropractic Statistics (1918 Flu)
During the 1918 pandemic, chiropractic was a very young profession—having only been founded in 1895 by D.D. Palmer. When the flu struck, the striking variance in survival rates between conventional allopathic medicine and early drugless practices became a core pillar of chiropractic's rapid post-war growth and subsequent state licensing.
The historical data tracked by practitioners and public health boards included several widely cited data sets:
| Region / Scope | Conventional Medical Methods | Chiropractic / Drugless Methods |
|---|---|---|
| National US Data | Est. 925 to 950 deaths per 10,000 influenza cases. | 1,142 chiropractors treated 46,394 patients, losing just 54—approx. 11 deaths per 10,000 (1 in 859). |
| New York City | 950 deaths per 10,000 flu cases; 6,400 deaths per 10,000 pneumonia cases. | 25 deaths per 10,000 flu cases; 100 deaths per 10,000 pneumonia cases. |
| Davenport, Iowa (Birthplace of Chiro) | 50 medical doctors treated 4,953 cases with 274 deaths (~5.5% mortality). | 150 practitioners/students treated 1,635 cases with only 1 death (~0.06% mortality). |
| Oklahoma | Medical doctors officially abandoned 233 cases as terminal or "lost". | Chiropractors took over those 233 terminal cases and saved all but 25 of them. |
2. Dr. S.T. McMurrain: Biography & Military Context
While many early accounts of the 1918 flu took place in domestic American clinics, Dr. S.T. McMurrain, D.C.brought these practices directly to the European theater of war.
Military Context at Base Hospital No. 84: In 1918, the United States military did not officially recognize or commission chiropractors as medical officers. Dr. McMurrain was stationed in Périgueux, France, serving within the infrastructure of Base Hospital No. 84
- The Ward Set-up: When the pandemic overwhelmed the base, Dr. McMurrain set up a makeshift portable adjusting table right inside the crowded camp barracks serving as the influenza ward.
- The Command Directive: Seeing the collapse of traditional therapies, the medical officer in charge began routing all active influenza patients to McMurrain's table for regular spinal adjustments alongside standard care.
- The Sanitary Corps Recommendation: The detachment commander, Lt. Col. McNaughton, observed a stark turnaround in patient survival rates. Because chiropractors could not be commissioned into the regular Army Medical Corps, McNaughton bypassed traditional protocols and formally requested that Dr. McMurrain be given an officer's commission in the U.S. Army Sanitary Corps—the branch responsible for camp hygiene, logistics, and alternative medical support.
