Founded upon a holistic philosophy, naturopathic medicine combines safe and effective traditional therapies with the most current advances in modern medicine. Naturopathic medicine is appropriate for the management of a broad range of health conditions affecting all people of all ages.
| The practice of Naturopathic Medicine is founded on six very important principles. |
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The Healing Power of Nature
Naturopathic Doctors believe that the natural state of the body is to be healthy. Our jobs are to help the patient identify and remove obstacles to healing and allow the body to heal itself.
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| 2. |
Identify and Treat the Causes
The Naturopath seeks to identify and remove underlying causes of illness, rather than to merely eliminate or suppress symptoms. |
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First Do No Harm
The Naturopathic Doctor implements this third rule with the following precepts.
- Utilize methods and medical substances which minimize the risk of harmful
side effects.
- Avoid when possible the harmful suppression of symptoms.
- Acknowledge, respect and work with the individual’s self-healing process.
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| 4. |
Doctor As Teacher
As Doctor’s we not only believe it is our job to help people improve their health, it is also our job to educate them so they can be responsible for their own health as well.
Encouraging self-responsibility for one’s health is a major goal for the Naturopathic Doctor. |
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Treat the Whole Person
This is achieved by taking into account individual physical, mental, emotional, genetic, environmental, social and spiritual factors. |
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Prevention
Prevention involves assessing individual risk factors, heredity and susceptibility to disease and making appropriate interventions in partnership with the patients to prevent illness. |
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Naturopathic Medical Education
Naturopathic medical colleges are four-year postgraduate schools with admissions requirements comparable to those of conventional medical schools. The degree of Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine requires four years of graduate level study in the medical sciences including: anatomy - cardiology - physiology - neurology - biochemistry - radiology - pathology - minor surgery microbiology - obstetrics - immunology - gynecology pharmacology - pediatrics - dermatology - lab diagnosis - clinical and physical diagnosis - and other clinical sciences.
Throughout the four years, there is training in naturopathic therapeutics, including therapeutic nutrition, botanical medicine, homeopathy, natural childbirth, acupuncture, hydrotherapy naturopathic manipulative therapy, and other therapies. Because the course work in natural therapeutics is added to a standard medical curriculum, naturopathic doctors receive significantly more hours of classroom education than the graduates of many leading medical schools, including Yale, Stanford, Johns Hopkins and Mayo medical schools. (Click here to see a comparison of naturopathic and conventional medical school curricula.) Clinical training takes place in school clinics, urban and suburban clinics, and is supplemented with preceptorships with various ND and MD practitioners. |
