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Naturopathic Medicine Naturopathic Medicine is a system of healing that utilizes natural therapies to effectively treat disease and prevent illness. Naturopathic doctors are trained in primary care medicine and can perform physical exams, order laboratory tests and prescribe most medications. They use a combination of modern medical research and natural therapies to provide you with the best of both worlds. Treatments
Clinical Nutrition and Orthomolecular Medicine (use of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and essential fatty acids to prevent and treat disease) - Hydrotherapy and physical medicine
Prescription medications, when appropriate and necessary
Principles of Naturopathic Medicine
The Healing Power of Nature: Your body has its own innate ability to heal and repair itself. Naturopathic physicians recognize this ability and focus on removing obstacles to cure and encourage this natural healing process.
Find the Cause: Every disease process has a true, underlying cause. Naturopathic physicians attempt to uncover and address the cause of your illness, rather than just treat symptoms.
Treat the Whole Person: Being a healthy individual requires both a healthy body and mind. Naturopathic physicians look closely at physical, mental, emotional, environmental, genetic and social aspects of each patient.
Do No Harm: Naturopathic physicians utilize methods and treatments that are the least harmful to you and always attempt to use the least forceful therapies possible in their treatments.
Prevention: Naturopathic physicians emphasize disease prevention by thoroughly assessing your risk factors to disease and making appropriate interventions to prevent illness.
Doctor as teacher: A principal objective of naturopathic medicine is to educate our patients so that they themselves can make informed choices about their healthcare. Education
Licensed naturopathic physicians (ND) attend a four-year graduate level naturopathic medical school and are educated in all of the same basic sciences as an M.D. but also studies holistic and nontoxic approaches to therapy with a strong emphasis on disease prevention and optimizing wellness. In addition to a standard medical curriculum, the naturopathic physician is required to complete training in clinical nutrition, acupuncture, homeopathic medicine, botanical medicine, psychology, and counseling (to encourage people to make lifestyle changes in support of their personal health). A naturopathic physician takes rigorous professional board exams so that he or she may be licensed by a state or jurisdiction as a primary care general practice physician. (Taken from www.naturopathic.org)
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