SPOKANE, Wash. — As Spokane County Commissioners prepare to potentially appoint a naturopathic doctor to the Spokane Regional Health District (SRHD) Board of Health, many have been left to wonder what naturopathy is and what a naturopathic doctor does.
The primary care training for a naturopathic doctor and a medical doctor are very similar, according to the Association of Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges (AANMC). Both doctors are trained in medical assessment and diagnosis, patient management, practice-based learning, and other areas of medicine.
According to AANMC, the main difference between a naturopathic doctor and a medical doctor is the approach to healing: medical doctors take a biological approach to healing, while naturopathic doctors take a natural approach to healing.
What is naturopathic medicine?
According to the Institute for Natural Medicine (INM), naturopathic is a system of medicine that combines "natural therapeutic traditions with modern science to restore and optimize health."
Naturopathic medical education (NME) curriculum combines "biomedicine, natural therapies and supervised clinical application of classroom knowledge."
AANMS defines naturopathic medicine as diagnosing, treating and managing patient's conditions while "addressing disease and dysfunction at the level of body, mind and spirit."
INM defines the goal of naturopathic medicine as "to support the body’s innate capacity to heal by treating the whole person with an individualized plan and teaching the patient how to prevent further illness."
What does a naturopathic doctor do?
Licensed naturopathic doctors (NDs) are trained as primary care providers. During a visit, an ND will typically obtain a comprehensive biological, psychological and social history. Patients may also receive a physical exam and diagnostic testing in order to reach a correct medical diagnosis, according to INM.
NDs may also conduct a therapeutic intervention, which can include clinical nutrition, botanical medicine and lifestyle recommendations.
NDs receive their education and training at accredited naturopathic medical colleges. Once they have received all necessary education and training, NDs are guided by the Therapeutic Order, a set of guidelines that follows the "natural sequence and prioritization of care," according to INM.
- Remove obstacles to health: NDs will first remove entities that can disturb the patient's health, such as poor diet, chronic stress levels, inadequate sleep and exercise among other factors. Naturopathic doctors create patient plans based on an individual’s “obstacles to health” in order to change and improve the terrain in which the disease developed.
- Stimulate self-healing mechanisms: NDs use therapies to "stimulate and strengthen the body’s innate self-healing and curative abilities," which can include clinical nutrition, botanical medicine, constitutional hydrotherapy, homeopathy, mind-body medicine and acupuncture.
- Restore weakened systems: NDs will identify imbalance and work to restore optimal function in the body.
- Correct structural integrity: Physical modalities, such as spinal manipulation and massage therapy, may be used to maintain and improve the musculoskeletal system.
- Use natural substances to restore and regenerate: When a specific pathology must be addressed, NDs work with natural substances to "minimize toxicity or additional burden on an already distressed system."
- Use pharmacologic substances to halt progressive pathology: NDs are trained in pharmacology and how to use pharmaceutical drugs when necessary. NDs prescribe or refer to medical colleagues as appropriate.
- Use high force, invasive therapies: When necessary, NDs can refer for more invasive therapies like surgery. They may recommend therapies that minimize side effects and enhance the efficacy of more invasive treatments.