What is Naturopathic Medicine?
What is Naturopathic Medicine?
Naturopathic and conventional medicine, as practiced by physicians and surgeons, are complementary, not competing disciplines.
Conventional medicine attacks disease by intervening with drugs or surgery. Although its methods are highly effective,
there are often undesirable side-effects. Antibiotics, for example, have a scattergun effect, damaging the body’s immune
system along with the targeted organisms. Naturopathic medicine takes the opposite approach, combating disease by supporting
the natural defenses of the body. Both disciplines have their place; neither alone is the complete answer to health.
We Naturopathic Doctors take a holistic approach, treating the entire human organism, rather than just the immediate disease.
We look for the causes of unhealth, rather than merely ameliorating symptoms. And we emphasize prevention as opposed to
dealing with problems that have already developed. Although Naturopathic Doctors are trained in an array of skills, we put
our ultimate trust in the natural capacity of humans for health. As a species we survived for eons before the invention of
modern medicine. Our mandate is to support that innate healing capacity.
Naturopathic Physicians are licensed as primary care doctors. We are trained as general practitioners in complementary
medicine, providing a full range of diagnostic tests and therapies. These include:
- Clinical Nutrition: Even in Canada, a nation of virtually unlimited resources of affordable food, poor health is often the
result of bad nutrition.
- Chinese Medicine: Developed over more than 3000 years, the traditional eastern use of herbs, diet and acupuncture is now
recognized in the west as a sophisticated and effective branch of medical practice.
- Botanical Medicine: About 40% of modern pharmaceuticals were derived originally from wild plants. Although most are now
synthesized, Naturopathic Doctors have retained the connection to nature, drawing on the medicinal properties of more than
300 plant species in their practice.
- Homeopathy: An ancient technique of using minute amounts of natural substances to promote health by stimulating bodily
energy.
- Hydrotherapy: A simple but highly effective method of directing a healing flow of blood to injured or diseased areas of
the body.
- Skeletal Alignment: Bones are the framework on which every bodily system from nerves to muscles ultimately depends.
Poor alignment can be the hidden cause of headaches, bad circulation, and many other ailments.
- Counselling: Naturopathic Doctors believe that when it comes to health, there is no separation between mind and body.
An ailing mind will sooner or later manifest itself in psychosomatic illness.
- Facial Rejuvenation Acupuncture: The insertion of fine acupuncture needles into selected facial and body points in order
to tighten, tone, and encourage firming of the skin by stimulating natural collagen production. It increases Qi (energy) and circulation
throughout the body while diminishing fine lines and wrinkles.
- IV (Intravenous) Therapy: An effective method of administering high concentrations of vitamins and minerals directly into
the bloodstream. Chelation Therapy is a specific type of IV treatment that uses certain substances (EDTA, DMSA, DMPS), vitamins and minerals
to remove toxic heavy metals and/or elevated minerals from the body. The above can be used for treatment in cancer, autoimmune diseases,
heart disease/plaques, and lead/mercury poisoning.
- Bowen Technique: A gentle, yet dynamic system of muscle and connective tissue therapy that allows the body to heal itself by
influencing the ANS (autonomic nervous system). It can be used to treat chronic pain, musculoskeltal problems, headaches, and digestive
and respiratory concerns.
The Principles of Naturopathic Medicine
1. Identify and Treat the Causes (Tolle causam)
- The naturopathic doctor seeks to identify and to remove the underlying causes of illness, rather than to merely eliminate
or suppress symptoms.
2. First Do No Harm (Primum non nocere)
- Use methods and medicines which minimize the risk of harmful side effects, using the least force necessary to diagnose
and treat.
- Avoid, when possible, suppression of symptoms.
- Acknowledge, respect and work with the individual's self-healing process.
3. Doctor as Teacher (Docere)
- Naturopathic doctors share information and knowledge with their patients and encourage self-responsibility for health.
4. Treat the Whole Person
- Naturopathic doctors treat each patient by taking into account individual physical, mental, emotional, genetic,
environmental and social factors.
5. Emphasize Prevention
- Naturopathic doctors emphasize the prevention of disease by assessing risk factors, heredity and susceptibility to
disease and making appropriate interventions in partnership with their patients to prevent illness.
6. Support the Healing Power of the Body (vis medicatrix naturae)
- Naturopathic Medicine recognizes an inherent self healing process in the person which is ordered and intelligent
- Naturopathic doctors act to identify and remove obstacles to healing and recovery, and to facilitate and increase this
inherent self-healing process