'This Is A Hometown': Vienna Chiropractor Retires After 34 Years

VIENNA, VA — As a child in Lebanon, Anthony Avedisian would come home, and his mother would ask him to rub her shoulders. She told him, "son, I pray that one day you work with your hands." He didn't know what that meant at the time, but his mother's wish became true later on.

Avedisian and his Armenian-Lebanese family moved to the U.S. in 1968 when he was 10, and he grew up in New Jersey, attending Paterson University. Business travel brought him to Georgia, and that's when he learned a friend was also going to Georgia to become a chiropractor.

As he started learning more about chiropractic through his friend, his mother's words came back to him.

"I was taken by the effects of chiropractic care," Avedisian told Patch. "And I said, 'well, this is something I want to do.' And I looked into it. I'd made a commitment to myself and I told my parents I want to be chiropractor."

His son, Koko Avedisian, added, "My dad's a very religious person, and one day he came to the moment that he wanted to serve others, relieve pain."

Since completing his chiropractic education at Life University in Georgia, Avedisian arrived in the DC area. Through attending an Armenian church in DC, he both found his future wife and a lead on a location for a chiropractic practice. A friend at church told Avedisian his relative owned a property in Vienna that he should consider for a practice. Upon his first visit to Vienna, he said it felt like it could be home.

"I fell in love 34 years ago and as I drove down Maple Avenue on a Sunday morning and found my office space, and I said a little prayer," Avedisian said. "And the next morning I was signing a lease. I felt very connected, it felt home and felt like this is where I belong."

He named the practice Metropolitan Chiropractic Center, and the rest is history. Over 34 years, Avedisian has built a practice from scratch, earning patients from word of mouth rather than advertising.

"The fact that he's been able to get the tens of thousands of patients he's had, kind of says it all," said Koko Avedisian.

Avedisian has been named one of the top 10 chiropractors in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) numerous times. But what's made the experience worthwhile is the personal connections he's gotten to make with patients. He's served multiple generations of families over the 34 years.

"I walked into grocery stores and I know faces, I know names," he said. "I go from south to north of 123. There's many familiar wonderful people that I've been contact with. It's just a home. This is a hometown."

Koko Avedisian said it has been difficult for his father to tell all his patients he was retiring.

"One patient just broke down crying saying she can't imagine going to another chiropractor," said Koko Avedisian.

Avedisian and his wife have sold their family home in Oakton and are moving to Sarasota, Florida. Their son has already moved out of the area to Los Angeles, while their daughter still lives in the DC region. Upon retirement, Avedisian wants to continue serving through teaching, speaking engagements and giving back to the community.

" It's been an honor to wake up every day and go to work and help people feel better in every way possible," he said.

Even though Avedisian is leaving Vienna, his practice will be in good hands. As he was considering retiring, an old fraternity brother from Life University asked if he could buy the practice. After Avedisian officially retired at the end of last week, Dr. Afshin Karimi has taken over the practice at 360 Maple Avenue West under the new name of RxWellness.

"That's been the gift of all above because I'm so happy that this space, 360 Maple Avenue, will continue with its purpose to remain as a healing center to continue to give back to the community and do good deeds to mankind," said Avedisian.