Introduction to Naturopathic Medicine: Principles, Practices, and Challenges

This article provides an introduction to naturopathic medicine, including its principles, practices, and challenges. It explores the role of naturopaths in restoring and establishing optimal health through natural remedies and therapies. The article also discusses the challenges faced by the field, including the impact of modern technology and medicine, lack of standardization and regulation, and the need to adapt to changing needs.

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO THE NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE
INTRODUCTION TO THE NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE
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INTRODUCTION TO THE NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE
Introduction:
Naturopathic medication can be defined as the healthcare system that mainly uses the
natural remedies that are important for helping of the healing of the body. It is mainly seen to
embrace different types of therapies that include various components like the herbs, acupuncture,
massage, exercises and even nutritional counseling. This medication system was brought to the
nation of United States in the 1800 from the nation of Germany although many of the treatments
in the field of naturopathy are even centuries old (Damico, Chao & Gardiner, 2017). In the
present generation, this ode of treatment is seen to include traditional treatments along with
along with that of the modern science. The main goal of the naturopathic treatment is treating the
entire person that includes caring and healing of the mind, body as well as spirit of the
individuals who seek help (Goldenberg et al., 2017). The medication mainly tries to heel the root
cause of the treatment and not only concentrates on the symptoms. This assignment will mainly
show the different aspects of the naturopathic medication and the ways by which it has become
one of the most effective treatment medium in the present generation in the different nations of
the world.
Naturopath:
A naturopath can be described as the healthcare professionals who are seen to mainly
apply the different natural therapies for the treatment of the person. The spectrum of the
profession is seen to be comprising of components that are far more than fasting, water, exercises
as well as nutrition. It is seen to include different types of approved natural healing procedures
like that of homeopathy, herbal medication therapy, acupuncture and even ozone therapy, bio-
resonance as well as colon hydrotherapy (Oberg et al., 2015). Many of the researchers in the

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present day are of the opinion that in the present day generation, the negative outcomes of the
different types of pollution, application of modern technologies, poor diet as well as stress play
important roles resulting in degradation of health. In such situations, the ability of the
naturopaths in application of the natural methods of healing is found to be of considerable
importance. Extensive researches have seen that naturopath is often the last resort of the patient
in his long search of healthcare that helps in curing internally in the patients (Seely, Szczurko &
Cooley, 2016). Therefore, the naturopath has the responsibility of seeing the humankind as the
holistic structure that is the union of the body, mind and spirit, and is thereby seen to provide
personalized care that not only satisfies the needs and requirement of the individual but also
ensures effective mental and physical health of individuals.
Arenas of practice of the naturopath:
A naturopath is mainly seen to conduct practices in wide variety of settings. The
professional can be seen to be working in the different types of freelance environment. They
have the options of working in the hospitals as well as in the spas, administration, research,
healthcare sectors, management in the retail industry and even in the media. Such professional
can be also seen to be working in the nutritional as well as the family consultancy and they can
even work in the different types of beauty clinics. They can also have specific specialization in
the skin problems as well as infertility, sports, skin problems, children as well as geritarics
(Arentz et al., 2018). The growing acceptance of the naturopathy in the modern healthcare
system had made it helpful for such professionals to provide care without any resistance or
conflicts. They are seen to work simultaneously to the already existing medication system in the
western healthcare system.

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Origins and principles of naturopathy:
The principles of Naturopathy were first seen to be used by the Hippocratic School of
Medicine around the time of 400 BC. The Greek Philosopher namely Hippocrates mainly
believed in the viewing of the whole person in regards to that of the finding of the causal factors
of the disorders and thereby utilizing the laws of the nature for inducing the care. The concept
and the principles of this mode of healthcare had originated from this school of thought. A
number of principles remain intricately associated with the present day naturopathy. One of them
is the main founding principle of the treatment procedure that is considering the healing power of
the nature and believes the nature has the innate capability of healing (Ooi et al., 2017). The next
principle is the identification and the treatment of the cause that shows that there is always an
underlying cause of the disorders and that might be both physical as well as emotional. The third
principle says not to cause any harm that involves that a naturopath should never be using any
treatments that might create other negative conditions. The fourth principle would be treating the
whole person. This means that the healthcare professional needs to prepare a whole treatment
plan that would be considering all the aspects of the person (Harris, 2017). The fifth principle is
considering the Naturopath as the teacher which means that the naturopath would be helping the
clients to take the responsibility of their own health and this would be achieved by teaching of
the self-care. The sixth principle is based on the famous quote of prevention to be better than
cure. The professional would be mainly helping in the removal of the toxic substances as well as
the situations from the lifestyle of the patient that help in the prevention of the further onset of
the further disorder.
Process of working of naturopathy:

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The healthcare professionals working in naturopathy are immensely educated and they
are well trained in the accredited naturopathic medical colleges. They mainly work by
diagnosing, preventing as well as treating both the acute as well as chronic ailments. They help
in restoring and establishing the optimal health of their service users by supporting their inherent
self-healing procedures (Nair & Nanda, 2014). Instead of just suppressing their symptoms, such
professionals are seen to work with the underlying causes of the disorders and thereby tend to
develop personalized treatment with the effective planning of the ways to address them. They
follow the Therapeutic Order that helps in effective identification of the natural orders in which
all the different therapies should be applied. This would help in providing the greatest benefit
with the least potential for the damages.
 Removal of the obstacles to health: obstacles can disturb Health that is the natural state of
the body of human beings. This in turn leads to different types of disorders. One of the
first steps in returning the health of the individual can be achieved by the removal of the
entities that have the potential to cause to disturb health. These include poor diet,
digestive disturbances as well as inappropriate and different chronic stress level along
with that of the individual harmony (Sasagawa et al., 2017). Therefore, naturopathy
professionals can help the clients by building up of the healthy regimen that remains
based on the servicer users’ “obstacles to health”. This would help in the changing of the
terrain in which the disorders are developed, along with allowing additional therapeutics
to have the most beneficial effects as possible.
 Stimulation of the self-healing mechanisms: the professionals are seen to utilize different
therapies that help in the stimulating as well as the strengthening of the curative abilities
and even the innate self-healing abilities of the body. Different of these therapies are

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seen to use modalities like that of the botanical medicines, clinical nutrition,
homeopathy, constitutional hydrotherapy and acupuncture
 Strengthening of the weakened systems: this is the level of the treatment where the
professionals address the systems that need to be repaired for better quality life of the
professionals. Such professionals are seen to have an arsenal of different types of
therapeutic available. These are helpful in the enhancement of the specific tissues as well
as the organs of the systems (Breed et al., 2017). These are mainly different types of
lifestyle interventions along with dietary modifications as well as botanical medication.
This also involves the orthomolecular therapy that includes uses of different substances
like that occurring in the naturally in the body like that of the vitamins, amino acids as
well as different mineral and homeopathy.
 Following of the correct structural integrity: the healthcare professionals in this domain
might also take the help of the different types of physical modalities. These might include
massage therapy, spinal manipulation, and cranio-sacral therapy. These are extensively
utilized for the improvement as well as the maintenance of the skeletal and musculature
integrity.
 Utilizing the different types of the natural substances helping in the regeneration as well
as the restoration of health: the primary objective of the naturopathy medication is the
restoration of the heath and not only the treatment of the pathology (Jacob, 2015).
However,, in cases when a specific pathology needs to be addressed, the healthcare
professionals need to employ safe as well as effective natural components. These
substances should be such that it should never add to the toxicity or create any additional
burden for the largely distressed body.

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 Utilization of the pharmacologic substances for halting of the progressive pathology: the
professionals are seen to be trained in the pharmacology domain and they know of the
various ways and time when they need to use the pharmacological drugs. If their state is
seen to permit, then they can advise with the pharmacological angst to the service users
themselves (Lannin et al., 2016). If their state does not permit that, they can refer the
service users to any conventional medical colleagues.
 Utilization of the different types of high force and invasive modalities that might include
surgery, chemotherapy as well as radiation: There might be situations when life, limb as
well as the function need to be preserved and in such situation, the professionals need to
refer the clients to the medical practitioners who are highly trained in these arenas. At the
same time, they would also be using the complementary as well as the supportive
therapies helping in the reduction of the side effects along with the increasing of the
effectiveness of the invasive procedures (Wardle & Sarris, 2014).
Different disorders which can be treated:
The help of naturopathy can treat a wide variety of disorders. These might include
allergies, headaches as well as different types of fertility issues. Different types of digestive
problems, obesity as well as hormonal imbalances can take place along with chronic pain and
chronic fatigue syndromes. Many states might permit the professionals to conduct minor
surgeries like that of the stitching up of small wounds (Romyeke et al., 2017). They can also
prescribe certain types of medications and they might act as primary care doctors in many cases.
They also might take additional training in the natural procedure of childbirth and conduct such
interventions as well.

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Keeping the doctors in the loop:
Many of the researches are of the opinion that certain types of components used in
naturopathy have side effects and risks associated with it. Therefore, it is very important for the
professionals to instruct the patients to keep their doctors in loop so that the risks can be
mitigated. One of the components is called the supplements that are actually vitamins and herbal
products. Some of these substances are seen to interact and interfere with different types of
prescribed medications. When taken in large doses, certain of the vitamins might result in the
raising of the risk of other disorders like that of cancer and many others. Another important
component is the spinal adjustments (Hawkins, 2018). As a part of the manipulative treatment of
naturopathy, the professionals might apply pressure to that of the spine region of the patient. This
can result in the damaging of the arteries, nerves, bones as well as spinal discs. There had been
rare cases where strokes had also occurred. The third components, which can be also stated, are
the detox diets, this form of the treatment are mainly meant for making the body get rid of the
body of the toxins. This is mainly seen to include fasting as well as cutting out of certain foods
that might even mean going through periods of fasting. This might get dangerous with the people
who are suffering from chronic ailments like that of the diabetes. When individuals are seen to
remain on such diets for a longer period, they might be exposed to the risk of not getting enough
vital nutrients (Weeks, 2017)
Therefore, it is very important for the service users to discuss with both their medical
doctors as well as their naturopathy professionals in details about their issues and of they have
the urge to use naturopathy medications. The healthcare professionals will make sure that the
treatments that would be planned would prove to be safe and would not interact with any other

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drugs that are being taken. One should never stop or delay the course of their conventional
medical care due to reasons like that of naturopathic medication.
Challenges that naturopathy face today:
Recent studies have shown different types of challenges are faced by naturopathy in the
present generation which are more in number than that faced by the ancestors. It is seen that
present day human beings are living their lives in the oceans of electromagnetic pollution, which
are inturn coupled, and associated with plethora of different types of chemical pollutants. These
were completely absent and men never faced such threats even 40 years back (Ali et al., 2014).
A huge number of disorders have become quite common and one of the main contributors is the
denatured food that is fast-tracked by the technology resulting in huge number of health
problems. Therefore, researchers are of the opinion that present day people have lot of
compounds in their body which are not only source of toxins but which should have never
entered into the system of human beings (Lee, 2017). Therefore, present day naturopath
professionals need to develop a very eclectic procedure and approach that would help in the
meeting of the challenges and thereby guide the service users in a way that helps them to get
back their health back. Therefore, the present day professionals have the task of not losing the
sight of the fundamentals of the care but at the same time, the modern day naturopath has to
employ different raft of skills as well. These include utilization of the herbs, manipulation,
homeopathy, acupuncture, flowers-essences as well as biochemical supplementation for
augmenting their work. Researchers are of the opinion that these are necessary for the offset of
the different types of suppressions, which are brought about through the lives in the modern
times with all the concomitant stresses, which seek in strangling the life force in our bodies
(Sarris et al., 2014).

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Conclusion:
The focus of the naturopathic medication is the promotion of the heath along with the
understanding of the innate ability of the body to heal itself. The professionals thereby plan in
the removal of the obstacles that prevent effective cure to the body helping patients to move
towards optimal health development. It helps in the disease prevention, helping in providing
primary health care, individualized treatment, and effective safe treatments. Different types of
ailments are treated like that of pain issues, fatigue, sleep disturbances, allergies, fertility issues,
obesity hormonal issues and many others. The professionals are able to respond to the different
individual needs of the patients along with the development of the treatment plan that would
include nutritional supplements, diet therapy as well as botanical medicines. Different principles
and levels are maintained by professionals in order to provide effective care to patients helping
them to live better quality lives.

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