In 1942 after a chiropractic treatment by Mr. Ashford, a chiropractor who had trained under DD Palmer, the discoverer of chiropractic, John McTimoney became fascinated by chiropractic, still a very little known therapy in Britain. He was struck by the logic of its philosophy of cause and effect and became eager to learn it himself. In 1944 Mr. Ashford referred John McTimoney to a local chiropractor, Mary Walker, DC.

John McTimoney

Mary Walker

Due to illness Dr Walker was unable to fulfil her ambition of opening her own school of chiropractic. However, in the late 1940's she passed on her complete training, to two pupils, one of whom was John McTimoney. John's training took nearly three years and he described it as 'comprehensive and severe'. After examination by two Doctors of Chiropractic from Palmer College he qualified in 1950.

As an engineer, John McTimoney began to look at the techniques he had been taught, and started to develop his own approach and technique variations. One such adjustment was known as the toggle-recoil, which he then developed into his own variation, the toggle-torque-recoil which consists of an extremely light and fast movement. The toggle is the thrust, the torque is applied during the thrust and the recoil is the immediate removal of the practitioner's hands, allowing the patient's body to react by itself, so that the adjustment is not imposed upon it. This technique respects the body's innate knowledge of what is appropriate for it at that moment. It is a means of gently, and usually painlessly, persuading the bone to return to its correct resting position without forcing or stressing the joint or the body.

Following his first heart attack, John McTimoney was asked to take on students in order to ensure the survival of his work. In 1972 with the help of his family he opened the Oxfordshire School of Chiropractic with 14 students. The School has evolved to become the McTimoney College of Chiropractic, enrolling up to 70 students per year who now graduate with a B.Sc. in Chiropractic. Students can study how to treat humans and animals, with the College now the premiere institution teaching chiropractic adjusting techniques for animals.