Naturopathic Medicine
What is Naturopathic Medicine?
Naturopathic doctors make up a singular branch of the medical tree; they are invested with a comprehensive and integrated vision of health and wellness. Naturopathic medicine is based on the belief that the human body has an innate healing ability. Naturopathic doctors (NDs) teach their patients to use diet, exercise, lifestyle changes and cutting edge natural therapies to enhance their bodies’ ability to ward off and combat disease. NDs view the patient as a complex, interrelated system, a whole person. Naturopathic doctors create comprehensive treatment plans that blend the best of modern medical science and traditional natural medical approaches to not only treat disease, but also restore health.
Naturopathic Principles
- Utilization of therapies that first do no harm
- Prevention of disease through health lifestyle and control of risk factors
- Recognition and encouragement of the body’s inherent healing abilities
- Treatment of the whole person – physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual
- Identification and treatment of the causes of diseases rather than elimination of symptoms
- Education of the patient and cultivation of an attitude of personal responsibly for one’s health
Naturopathic Education
A licensed naturopathic physician (ND) attends a four-year, graduate-level naturopathic medical school and is educated in all of the same basic sciences as an MD, but also studies holistic and non-toxic approaches to therapy with a strong emphasis on disease prevention and optimizing wellness. In addition to a standard medical curriculum, the naturopathic physician is required to complete four years of training in clinical nutrition, acupuncture, homeopathic medicine, botanical medicine, psychology, and counseling. A naturopathic physician takes rigorous professional board exams so that he or she may be licensed by a state or jurisdiction as a primary care general practice physician.
Although Wisconsin does not currently regulate or license ND’s as primary care doctors, you can rest assured knowing that our doctors have the education that you would expect from a medical expert. In fact, both our naturopathic doctors have gone to the extra effort to hold current licenses as primary care physicians (PCP’s) in other states – Dr. Henkel by the state of Washington, and Dr. Georgia in Minnesota.
