Steven Stewart, DC
Santa Cruz Chiropractor | Dr. Steven Stewart
I love my work. For over 40 years I have been providing skilled, hands-on chiropractic health care to the Santa Cruz community—and what a wonderful way to connect with interesting people!
I appreciate being part of your healing experience. So often, I get to watch people’s lives change as they take charge of their own health. I get to see, frequently with immediate effects, the power of an adjustment to relieve pain or other discomfort.
I am blessed to watch smiles emerging, along with a growing awareness of health, vitality and the possibility of a life even more worth living. It’s a great opportunity to work with basically healthy people who get even better. I’ve been in practice long enough to be providing wellness care to the children of practice members who I first treated when they were children.
Heading toward the summit, central Sierra.
A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far Away
In college, I was drawn toward the health sciences and was studying a pre-med curricula. Yet something didn’t feel right to me about traditional medical values that focused on a germ-centered, mechanistic view of health—what I call “sickness care.” Then I learned about chiropractic, and began to understand how it works by recognizing and supporting the body’s own innate intelligence and healing capacity.
After undergrad work at Pittsburg State University in Kansas, I went on to Logan College of Chiropractic in St. Louis, Missouri, one of the top chiropractic colleges in the nation. Logan was strong in biological and clinical sciences, with high emphasis on the study of human anatomy.
All the theory and classes and hands-on practicum began to come together at Logan. One day, in the hall between classes, I stopped, looked around, and knew that this was absolutely the right place to be. It was the perfect beginning to a lifelong pursuit, and a path to better health, aliveness, vitality. Here, in this field, I could make a difference in the quality of lives. I graduated with honors in 1979, and have been in practice ever since.
Susan and Dr. Stewart
Since Then…
While still in my internship, I participated in a research project studying how cranial and spinal adjusting may benefit children who have various kinds of mental disabilities.
For fifteen years I had the privilege of studying directly with Dr. M. B. DeJarnette, one of the great pioneers of chiropractic technique, most notably cranial adjusting. This specialty, cranial adjusting, has been an effective mainstay of my work since I began my practice.
In the process of staying current through continuing education, I’ve studied many adjusting methods, pursued diagnostic skills, as well as x-ray and other diagnostic image interpretation. I’ve taken clinical hypnosis training, guest lectured in anatomy classes, and for years taught analysis and adjusting methods to other chiropractors through the Sacro-Occipital Research Society. Perhaps my greatest learning however, has come from working directly with my patients and practice members, and their many health conditions and levels of wellness over the years.
The people of Santa Cruz have voted me Best Chiropractor several times in reader polls in two of the region’s weekly newspapers, Good Times and Santa Cruz Metro. Thank you for this honor.
Together with my wife Susan, we’ve parented our son, Joseph. Grown now, Joseph has a doctoral degree and is working in his field as a researcher in environmental biology. We are each passionate about sustaining the health of our environment and the livability of our planet by raising awareness of climate change issues and promoting good climate legislation.
Long walks in wild and open places keep me fit and help me find guidance on my path. I enjoy regular hiking in the nearby hills and backpacking in the high granite country of the Sierra Nevada. Photography is an art I explore as I traipse about this world I love. You can see some of my camera work at my personal photo site. Click here to take a look, and thanks for exploring. I also practice yoga with other movement, limbering, and strengthening exercises, all dynamic tools for maintaining adjustments and keeping one’s mind and body strong and balanced.
Experienced. Gentle. Effective.
Daily, I feel extremely fortunate to be doing this work. I have a hands-on approach, personalized and professional. I am dedicated to careful listening, taking the time to understand, and hear your individual concerns. I strive to help you achieve the results you want, whether with brief fix-it therapy or long-term wellness care. It’s really about freedom—freedom from pain, or freedom to be all your heart imagines. You choose how far you want to go.
Most patients initially seek my care looking for relief from pain or some other symptom. If you have a particular health issue, I welcome you to my practice.
If you are looking to improve your level of health or for wellness care, I would be honored to help you realize that state.
If you are a current practice member, I thank you for your trust. I intend to continue earning it.
Steven D. Stewart, D.C.
Thanks for visiting our site. We look forward to meeting with you in person and learning how chiropractic can fit into your health care goals. Give our Santa Cruz chiropractic office a call or click here to email us and we can arrange a time to explore your options!