FREDERICK —-Many years ago Dr. Amir A. Rashidian traveled to his ancestral home in Iran.
His father led him and they had to go part of the way riding donkeys. When they arrived at the village, a woman was in agony. She was about to give birth, but the baby had died inside her and there was nothing that could be done. There was no way she could get to a hospital in time to save her.
“I decided then that I would enter the medical field, to help people,” said Dr. Rashidan at his new office, Mid-Atlantic Clinic of Chiropractic at 154 N. Market St.
His father suffered from arthritis and other problems and faced a serious operation that would fuse part of his spine. By chance, he and his father went to a chiropractor who, after six months of treatment, brought his father back to an enjoyable life without surgery.
The medical calling also extended to a brother, who is an obstetrics and gynecology doctor.
Chiropractic medicine, Dr. Rashidian said, is the treatment of disease without surgery. “We help the body heal itself. We treat the cause and not just the symptoms,” he said.
“Typically,” he said, “it is a weakness in the body, especially the spine. And the body operates through the nervous system which goes from the brain through the spinal cord. If it is misaligned or there is a problem, it can affect the entire body.”
Dr. Rashidian said he takes the “Eastern approach” to medicine, that is keeping the patient well and preventing disease.
Nutrition and exercise are integral parts of his wellness approach, he said.
His offices are in the former Farmers & Mechanics Bank building and he uses the huge vault for his personal office. “The patients don’t go in there normally, but some want to see what it looks like inside of a bank vault,” he said.
The rest of the office includes an examination room and treatment rooms and a consultation room.
Dr. Rashidian has an office in Woodbine, opened three years ago, but said many of the patients there were from Frederick.
“I have a partner who takes care of that office. He will take care of that and I will be here in Frederick,” Dr. Rashidian said.
He said he chose downtown Frederick because there was no chiropractor in that part of the city.
“It is convenient to people downtown who could walk in here on their lunch hour or after work,” he said.
For those using the city’s parking decks, he will validate the cost up to two hours. “The typical visit would not take that long,” he said.
Dr. Rashidian received a bachelor’s degree cum laude in chemistry from George Washington University, a second bachelor’s degree cum laude in human biology from the National University of Health and Sciences, where he also recieved his doctorate in chiropractic.
He spent two years at the National Institutes of health doing biomedical research and has more than nine years of clinical experience.
Dr. Rashidian’s wife, Brandi, assists him in the office.
For more information call 301-698-0031 or e-mail Health@DrRashidian.com.
