John McTimoney 1914-1980

John Mctimoney was a gifted and innovative chiropractor who, like so many practitioners came to chiropracttic because of receiving help for a potentially crippling condition. Trained in Oxford by a pupil of DD Palmer's he used his training as a foundation to develop a system unique to his chosen technique. Espousing a holistic approach when all current thought was tending to reductionism he was not popular with the general chiropractic community in the UK - when he started a college in Banbury he was widely condemmed by the profession. Mr McTimoney continued unperturbed and taught the unique, holistic chiropractic approach that set his technique aside from mainstream chiropractic thought at that time. Interestingly subsequent changes in philosophical and scientific thought have vindicated his stand and his teachings are beginning to find resonances in the current views on holistic therapies in general.

In the early fifties he developed a systematic approach to the treatment of animals and the College he founded went on to obtain external validation for its animal course from the University of Cardif - the first such course in Europe. McTimoney animal practitioners treat widely in Europe and their services are much in demand by professional equestrian competitiors in all the major riding disciplines.

Mr McTimoney was an artist and an engineer and he stressed the dual nature of chiropractic as both art and science. Those of us who knew him and studied with him received a firm foundation of belief in the incredible capacity of the body to heal itself and of the major role chiropractic plays in facilitating that process.