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Naturopathy
Naturopathy has a preventative approach to health care - it aims
to balance the body so that illness is less likely to occur in the
future. A naturopath will want to know about a patient's diet,
lifestyle, family background and environment, as well as the
history of their complaint or illness. This range of information
is important to the practitioner, who seeks to discover the cause
of illness and treat the whole person, rather than target the
symptoms alone. The range of non-invasive techniques used in
naturopathy includes:
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Nutrition
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Herbal medicine
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Massage.
Naturopathy evolved out of ancient healing traditions and is now
recognized by mainstream medicine as a valuable and effective
treatment for a variety of disorders. Many naturopathic beliefs -
such as the importance of nutrition, exercise and stress
management - have been adopted by conventional Western medicine
The differences between the holistic approach used by
the Naturopathic Doctor and the allopathic approach
to medicine are considerable, however, what most people do not realize is
that these two approaches are completely compatible. Allopathic medicine
is necessary in order to address certain health problems, as is holistic
medicine to address other health problems. Each can enhance the effect of
the other. Few people recognize this potential and simply look at them as
being antagonistic with each other.
Allopathic medicine is what we consider the traditional health care in
this country. You go to the doctor with a symptom, he (or she) gives you a
band-aid, or a drug, or cuts you open and fixes or removes something. Most
of the thrust of allopathic medicine is symptomatic. That is, you have a
symptom, and the doctor addresses that symptom to alleviate or remove it.
This is extremely important in cases of trauma, such as broken bones.
Holistic medicine, on the other hand, views symptoms as a guide to an
underlying cause. For example, an allopathic doctor may give you an
anti-inflammatory if you have aching joints, and this may temporarily
improve symptoms. This is a symptomatic approach. The holistic
practitioner will ask, “Why are the joints deteriorating and causing pain
and aching? Is there an autoimmune problem? Is there a deficiency of
sulfur to run the liver detoxification pathways, causing the body to rob
the synovial fluid in the joints? Is there a circulation problem?
Is the nerve malnourished? Are there essential nutrients that are not
being absorbed, and if so, why? In other words, the holistic
practitioner will look at your body at the cellular level and give you the
nutrient/enzymatic/homeopathic support that you need to make you healthier
so that the pain in your joints will be eased from the inside as your body
rebuilds itself. As one holistic practitioner wisely said, “There
are no drug deficiencies, just nutrient deficiencies."
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