The Joint Chiropractic

Doc Chris is amazing. I love seeing him. He puts me back together and knows what he is doing. I would highly recommend him to anyone.

OK, first a little history: I play golf. A LOT of golf. A few weeks ago, I subluxated a rib with a wonky shot and seriously thought I was going to die. It didn’t hurt when I did it, but it crept up on me a couple of days later replete with spasms (and I’ve never had a back spasm in my life) around 3AM every night but no issues at all during the day once I was upright and moving around. Go figure, it’s textbook sublux. So, for a referral to a reputable chiro, I turned to all my golf girlfriends, and got tons of kudos for tons of folks around these parts. I chose the one I thought was most highly recommended, and he did a decent job popping my rib back into place, but I thought his technique was pretty rough. In fact, after the second visit, I wasn’t having spasms anymore, but was so sore from the treatment that I couldn’t decide which was worse, so I stopped going even though I wasn’t quite out of the woods yet.
I continued (of course) to play golf, with pretty great results despite some lingering rib soreness, but still felt like I needed a few more adjustments to get me back on track. While watching the British Open this weekend (and pining for another Spieth win) along comes a commercial for The Joint. The hub and I had heard of it, but were a little dubious about going to someone we didn’t know anything about. After researching the website, though, I found I really liked their approach to chiropractic (my dad lived by it and despite having a really messed up back, never had a day of surgery because of it).
I called to make an appointment, but they don’t operate by appointment — it’s walk-​in only, and the wait time doesn’t seem to be an issue. They also don’t give a rip about insurance — they offer a $ 19 first visit that you can pay for using your FSA, and they give you a nifty little ice pack with their signature on it as a gift, very nice! They also offer a number of different maintenance plans for regular visits if you choose to do that. For example, a month-​to-​month gets you 4 adjustments in a one month time frame for only $ 59, and if you add a second family member, it’s only $ 49 for them. Better yet, if you want to get on the 6 month plan, it’s $ 49 for the first person and $ 39 for the second family member. When you do the math on the month-​to-​month, for instance, that comes out to $ 13.50 per adjustment, which is less than HALF of what you’d co-​pay through insurance, so it’s a really great approach to staying healthy in your bony parts AND your pocketbook!
The staff at the Atlanta Highway location is super nice, and there are tons of different locations throughout Georgia and other states. Once you’re signed on with The Joint, you can go to any location anywhere and check in with your little dangly keychain card! I must say, however, that the chiropractor at the Atlanta Highway location is AWESOME. I’ve been to a number of chiropractors in my life, and I can’t name one that I thought was friendly and likeable and, well, NORMAL — until today! Dr. Bradley Machara is the best chiro I’ve ever been to. He looks you in the eye, has a straightforward approach, great explanations, and no icky sales tactics — he just really believes in the power of chiropractic, and it shows! His adjustment technique doesn’t hurt me at all, he doesn’t dig his knuckles into my dislocated rib when he’s cracking my back, he’s very gentle and explanatory about what he intends to do, and his technique is immediately effective! Unlike so many others, he also gives you exercises to do at home to augment the treatments — just fabulous! Not only will I continue to visit him for adjustments, but I’ve lined up the hub to see him tomorrow, too! I feel like I’ve stumbled onto a gold mine with this one, and really hope he’ll be around for us for many years of golfing to come!