What is Naturopathic Medicine?

Naturopathic medicine believes at its root that your body knows how to heal itself. It’s a holistic type of treatment that takes into account your entire body and all of its systems. Rather than just prescribing medications to cover up your symptoms, a naturopath looks for their root causes.

Naturopathic medicine also uses a variety of treatment modalities to most effectively address your symptoms. In some cases this may mean changing your diet and taking herbal supplements. The providers at Nutura Clinic in Portland, Oregon, offer this helpful guide to explain more about naturopathic medicine and how it can benefit you.

What is naturopathic medicine?

Naturopathic medicine, or naturopathy, ultimately means that science and nature work together in harmony and both can be used in healing. It’s gradually evolved over time, but in its present state has existed since around the late 19th century.

Naturopathic medicine has a wide variety of meanings, and not all practitioners are created equal. However, naturopathic doctors who have graduated from reputable schools of naturopathic medicine combine both traditional medicine and holistic views of healing to work toward promoting your best possible health.

The kinds of illnesses naturopathic medicine can treat

Naturopathic medicine can treat a broad range of acute and chronic illnesses and injuries. Some of the issues we address include:

• Primary care
• Chronic illness
• Hormonal therapy/hormone imbalances
• Women’s health concerns
• Mental health
• Nutritional counseling

By looking at you as a whole person, the goal is to bring your body and mind into balance, improving your overall wellness.

The keys to naturopathic medicine

Naturopathy believes that your body can heal itself, but first you may have to get to a place where that is possible. Certain lifestyle habits, such as consuming junk food, smoking, or living with excessive stress can interfere with your healing process.

We also teach self-care as essential to healing. Rather than keeping you stuck in a cycle where you’re dependent on your doctor to cure you, we teach you how you can cure yourself. You become empowered to treat yourself through education.

Another one of the key components of naturopathic medicine is that the treatments should not cause you additional harm. This is in sharp contrast to mainstream (or allopathic) medicine, which may prescribe medications to treat one symptom but cause other unwanted side effects.

In addition, we look at your body holistically: mind, body, and spirit. All of these components are necessary to live in optimal wellness.

The types of treatment naturopathic medicine may include

Naturopathic medicine doesn’t believe that there’s only one proper treatment for every condition. If you come in for depression, for example, we don’t give you a prescription for antidepressants. We look at the cause of your depression and treat accordingly.

Some of the types of treatments that naturopathic medicine may include are:

• Dietary and nutritional changes
• Lifestyle changes, including exercise
• Herbal dietary supplements
• Homeopathy (a type of natural medicine)
• Manipulative therapy, including chiropractic adjustments
• Hydrotherapy (water-based treatment)
• Detoxification

We look at what your individual body needs to restore balance to your system, and no two cases are exactly alike.

If you are struggling with a health condition, a naturopathic doctor may be just what you need. Schedule a consultation with the providers at Nutura Clinic by phone or request an appointment online today.