What is a Naturopathic Doctor?

What Exactly is Naturopathic Medicine?

By Dr. Jill Jennings ND, RN

Naturopathic medicine is becoming increasingly popular as people look for more natural and holistic approaches to improve their health. So what exactly is Naturopathic medicine?

Naturopathic medicine is a primary care health system that encourages the body’s self-healing process It uses lifestyle adjustments and natural therapies pulling from both traditional healing methods and modern medical science.

There are 6 main principles in Naturopathic Medicine:

1.First Do No Harm

Utilize the most natural, least invasive and least toxic therapies

People often think that Naturopathic Doctors (NDs) are against medications. This simply is not true. We are actually trained in the use, prescribing and management of pharmaceutical medications. The problem is many medications come with a risk of side effects. There absolutely is an appropriate time and place for the use of medications, but unfortunately, they are often overprescribed and misused. Our goal is to always do no harm by starting with the least invasive, more natural therapies first whenever possible.

2.Identify and Treat the Cause

Look beyond the symptoms to the underlying cause

Things are usually not what they seem on the surface. You do not have diabetes because your body is deficient in metformin. You do not have high blood pressure because you have a shortage of lisinopril. If I had a house plant and it was brown and wilting, I could spray paint it green and make it look a little better, but I haven’t fixed anything. Until I figure out what the plant needs to heal (water, sunlight, good soil and love), and I give it what it needs, then and only then can it heal. The same is true with our bodies. By medicating symptoms, we often turn an illness into a chronic disease, because we haven’t addressed the root cause of the symptoms. You cannot medicate yourself out of a chronic disease. If you could, you wouldn’t need a refill. You have to address the underlying cause.

3.The Healing Power of Nature

Trust in the body’s inherent ability to heal itself

Your body has a FAR greater capacity to heal than anyone has ever allowed you to believe. You simply have to give the body what it needs to do so. God knew what he was doing when he created us, and our bodies have an innate ability to heal. You think about if you cut your arm, even if you didn’t go get stitches, it would heal. The human body is an incredible symphony of biochemical pathways. These pathways require various co-factors of vitamins and minerals to operate optimally. If these nutrients are not present, the pathways are compromised affecting the bodies abilities to effectively function and heal.

4.Doctor as Teacher

Educate patients in the steps to achieve and maintain health

The word doctor comes from the Latin word docere which means “to teach”. You can give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. But teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. Give a man a prescription and his symptoms will resolve until he needs a refill. But teach a man how to improve his health through diet and lifestyle choices, and he may not ever need a refill. Because of my own health journey, and learning this truth, I have such a deep passion to teach others what I have learned on the journey to health and healing.

5.Treat the Whole Person

View the body as an integrated whole in all its physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects

Our bodies are so beautifully complex and multifaceted. It consists of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual components that do not work alone and cannot be separated. Therefore, we shouldn’t treat one without considering how it affects the others. If I had a patient come into the ER with chest pain, of course I am going to rule out the big bad things. But if they are having chest pain because they just lost their job, their marriage is a mess and they can’t pay the rent and I don’t address that – I haven’t fixed anything. In conventional American medicine we have a wide array of specialties. While it is important to have physicians who are very skilled in a given area, we must remember that each system works in a synergistic fashion with the rest of the body.

6.Prevention

Focus on overall health, wellness and disease prevention

Prevention is key! We have to stop focusing on reactive medicine and start putting a greater emphasis on proactive medicine. We live in the most scientifically advanced country in the world and the world leader in medical research, yet we are one of the sickest countries in the world. We consume a whopping 75% of the world’s manufactured drugs. We need to focus on teaching prevention starting from a young age. We can’t wait to start thinking about our health once we get a devastating diagnosis.

Naturopathic Medical School Education

It is critical that you make sure your Naturopathic Doctor has graduated from an accredited naturopathic medical school and obtained a 4-year doctorate degree. Because licensure and regulations currently vary from state to state, there are individuals who may call themselves a “naturopathic doctor” after going through an online natural medicine course. Therefore, it is important to ask this question. Naturopathic medical school is an incredibly intense, rigorous training program. The first 2 years parallel the first 2 years of allopathic medical school in which students learn the basic sciences including: Anatomy, pathology, biochemistry, immunology, etc. The last 2 years student learn the clinical sciences including: Botanical medicine, homeopathy, nutritional biochemistry, naturopathic counseling, etc. In the final year students see patients in clinic under the supervision of the attending physicians. After graduation students have an option to go through a residency depending on their area of interest.

Some of the Therapies Naturopathic Doctors are Trained to Utilize

Dietary and lifestyle Changes

Nutritional Counseling

Botanical Medicine

Homeopathy

Hydrotherapy

Massage Therapy

Acupuncture

Chiropractic Care

Various Detox Therapies

Prescription Medications

Minor Surgeries

Naturopathic Medicine’s Therapeutic Order

Our Therapeutic Order™ identifies the natural order in which all therapies should be applied to provide the greatest benefit with the least potential for damage. The Therapeutic Order™ as described by the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians is as follows:

1. Remove Obstacles to Health. Health, the “natural state” of one’s body, is disturbed by obstacles that lead to disease. The first step in returning to health is to remove the entities that disturb health such as: poor diet, digestive disturbances, inappropriate and chronic stress levels, and individual disharmony. Naturopathic doctors construct a healthy regimen based on an individual’s “obstacles to health” to change and improve the terrain in which the disease developed. This allows additional therapeutics to have the most beneficial effects possible.

2. Stimulate the Self-Healing Mechanisms. NDs use therapies to stimulate and strengthen the body’s innate self-healing and curative abilities. These therapies include modalities such as clinical nutrition, botanical medicines, constitutional hydrotherapy, homeopathy, and acupuncture.

3. Strengthen Weakened Systems. Systems that need repair are addressed at this level of healing. Naturopathic doctors have an arsenal of therapeutics available to enhance specific tissues, organs or systems including: lifestyle interventions, dietary modifications, botanical medicine, orthomolecular therapy (use of substances that occur naturally in the body such as vitamins, amino acids, minerals), and homeopathy.

4. Correct Structural Integrity. Physical modalities such as spinal manipulation, massage therapy, and craniosacral therapy are used to improve and maintain skeletal and musculature integrity.

5. Use Natural Substances to Restore and Regenerate. Naturopathic medicine’s primary objective is to restore health, not to treat pathology. However, when a specific pathology must be addressed, NDs employ safe, effective, natural substances that do not add toxicity or additionally burden the already distressed body.

6. Use Pharmacologic Substances to Halt Progressive Pathology. NDs are trained in pharmacology and how to use pharmaceutical drugs when necessary. If their state license permits, they can prescribe these agents themselves or if not, refer to a conventional medical colleague.

7. Use High Force, Invasive Modalities: Surgery, Radiation, Chemotherapy. When life, limb, or function must be preserved, NDs refer patients to providers (MDs, DOs) who are expertly trained in higher level interventions.