There is a lot of averages out there:

• body temperature
• weight based on height
• blood pressure
• menstrual cycle length
• hours of sleep
• hours of physical activity per week

But who is really average? If we are average then does that mean we are all the same? Would that mean each disease or condition is exactly like that of another person so diagnosis and treatment should be the same? Yet, that is exactly what we are led to believe. The truth is that we are each uniquely different, with our own set of averages. Our normal may be a lower blood pressure than another. Or we may require less sleep than someone else. For a woman, her cycle could be 32 days, not 28 as modern medicine suggests.

If we prescribe to the idea of averages, then we may believe there is something wrong with us if we aren’t. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Holistic medicine, what is practiced by a chiropractor, approaches diseases and chronic conditions from a different perspective. What manifests as a symptom, is really the end result of several factors. These factors are what needs to be identified, rather than simply addressing the symptoms. For example, if a person is suffering from chronic migraines, a prescription for pain only fixes the pain – temporarily. What causes the migraine in the first place has yet to be identified.

Wellness is a state of being. One where each system of the body is working in harmony with the others, as it was intended. To a Doctor of Chiropractic, the migraine only provides a clue as to what the source is. By working with the patient to uncover their personal health history, lifestyle factors, and other unrelated symptoms, the root cause is found. There are no averages, only unique factors.

There are trends in medicine today that breakaway from the law of average such as in cancer treatment. Doctors in this field recognize that each patient has a unique diagnosis, with different treatment responses. This approach has increased the number of people and the years of survivorship tremendously, especially within certain cancer types. Wellness doesn’t need to wait for a cancer diagnosis for you to benefit from a holistic approach to your health.