by Elinor Gale

June 2012— How many of us can say we first experienced chiropractic care as kids? Angela Bolton, a practitioner at Newbold Chiropractic in El Granada for 8½ years, remembers her mother saying, “If you don’t take the bus home and walk, you can stop at the chiropractor and get adjusted if you want.”

Throughout her school years, Bolton received successful treatment for injuries and complaints. She says, “The chiropractor helped me feel well and heal.”

So it was a natural progression for her to become a chiropractor herself, although she also considered traditional medicine, acupuncture and nutrition. “Chiropractic was what I knew best,” she says. “It seemed to be more mainstream than acupuncture and to have a more alternative, holistic view of the body than traditional medicine, although now I know doctors who have that holistic view.”

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in psychology, Bolton earned her chiropractic degree at Palmer College of Chiropractic’s West Campus in San Jose. She also passed a rigorous exam to become a personal trainer and still trains clients at a Half Moon Bay gym Thursday mornings.

Bolton defines chiropractic care as a healing art based on the “scientific fact that your nervous system controls the function of nearly every cell, tissue and organ in your body. Chiropractic care locates nervous system interferences and corrects them, usually along the spine, relieving pain and improving health.”

“Stress, trauma, repetitive activities, sedentary lifestyles or aging can damage individual spinal joints causing vertebrae to rotate, tip forward, backwards, or to the side. Because of the way your spine and nervous system are designed, improper motion or position of the spinal bones can cause rubbing, stretching, or irritation of nerve tissue. We call this the vertebral subluxation complex.”

During a thorough examination, Bolton locates areas experiencing vertebral subluxation complex and applies a “carefully directed, controlled pressure to return the bones to their normal position and motion.” This treatment is called chiropractic adjustment. Treatment varies according to the problem, sometimes including use of laser beams or other equipment.

Bolton’s goal is to help patients achieve optimum health and pain-free living. With her patients, she looks at lifestyle, diet, posture, and habits affecting well-being. Patients are all ages: infants to elderly, athletes, pregnant women, and families.

She describes a 19-year old baseball player as a miracle patient. In pain since a growth spurt in early teens, he moved so slowly his teammates called him “old man.” With one adjustment, he could touch his toes, and bend both backwards and side to side.

Another client, expecting her second child, came for treatment to prevent the long, intensive labor she’d had with her firstborn — in posterior position, unable to turn to the correct position. Bolton gently adjusted her spine and pelvis to allow the baby to turn.

“Parents bring in infants who’ve experienced a stressful birth to make sure everything’s OK,” Bolton says. She adds that chiropractic adjustments can relieve colicky babies and help ear drainage in children with ear infections.

Most patients come seeking treatment for pain. After learning about their complaints and history, she examines and then treats them. “I look at posture, conduct neurologic tests, check the spine and back, hips and sacrum. I check to see if vertebrae are where they’re supposed to be or are stuck. I also look at people’s feet. For example, if the arch is fallen, it will affect your back.” Bolton also treats patients with scoliosis, headaches and numerous other ailments.

Chiropractic treatment is covered, typically with co-pay, by most insurance plans, including Medicare. In addition to Nancy Newbold, clinic founder, and Bolton, the professional staff at Newbold Chiropractic on the Coastside includes massage therapists and an acupuncturist. Bolton also offers three-week purification programs to eliminate toxins.