Tweeton Chiropractic celebrates 75 years

WASHINGTON — Tweeton Chiropractic, a Washington-based business marked its 75th year of operation with a ribbon-cutting ceremony downtown last week.

The ribbon was cut by Owner William Tweeton and his son, Dan Tweeton, who works alongside him.

The business first launched in Kalona in 1950, according to Dan Tweeton, who has a doctorate in chiropractic like his father and has practiced for 10 years. It later moved to Washington in the ‘60s, and its current location in the ‘90s.

He said his great-grandfather went into the field decades ago after a chiropractor helped him overcome pain from a bone infection, which led other doctors to amputate his leg.

“The infection remained in his body, and the surgeons wanted to take off his other leg, and potentially one or both of his arms,” Tweeton said of his ancestor’s childhood experience. “And that’s when his father said, ‘No more of that, we’re going to try something else,’ and in kind of a last-ditch effort, took him to a chiropractor.”

Others in the family line have similar stories. Dan Tweeton himself said he initially went to school on a premed track, but wound up studying to become a chiropractor after becoming disillusioned as an undergrad, and because his father’s expertise had helped him overcome injuries playing football.

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With generations of the practice under their belts, he said Tweeton Chiropractic offered a level of expertise that attracted numerous clients. He suspects it’s the secret to the business’ success for the last 75 years.

“Having that family legacy, where you can go into practice with your father, watch how they do things, and carry that on, it has some real staying power,” he said. “There’s some tradition in it … that dates back to the early days of the profession.”

There are other elements to that success, as well.

Tweeton said the Washington community was especially supportive. When he visits Washington High School to talk about his profession, he says the overwhelming majority of students report seeing a chiropractor at least once. It helps that the field traces its origins to Davenport, another Eastern Iowa city where D.D. Palmer performed the first chiropractic adjustment in 1895 and founded the Palmer School of Chiropractic.

“A lot of people have been educated on chiropractors, as to what the benefits are, and it’s probably spread a lot more around here, geographically, just because of the location of the school,” he said.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com