This article looks at the field of naturopathic medicine, how NDs are educated, what they treat and protocols followed in their clinics. When patients consider alternatives to mainstream medicine they are faced with a range of options. The first difference is that NDs receive an eclectic four year degree, covering a range of alternative therapies. NDs are generalists in alternative medicine in the same fashion that most MDs are family physicians. The second difference is that naturopathic protocols are based on research and study.
Naturopathic medicine is science based natural medicine.
The third major difference is the philosophy of naturopathic treatment, which is threefold. NDs believe in the recuperative power of the organism, given the correct climate for healing. Determining the correct individualized therapeutic environment is at the core of naturopathic medicine. Instead of treating the symptoms of disease the ND tries to cure the cause of the disease. Embracing these tenets, on a science-based platform, is at the heart of naturopathic care.