Naturopathic Medicine Services
Alternative Medicine for Optimal Health
Naturopathic and alternative medicine is a natural way to help you regain your energy and optimal health through informed changes in diet, lifestyle, and nutritional supplementation. At Integrative Health Centre, our natural therapies in alternative medicine can be applied to a wide variety of conditions, such as anxiety, high blood pressure, weight loss, depression, and more. See our Services for a full list of the types of conditions treated and our range of alternative therapies.
Complementary and Alternative Medicine
What to Expect from Alternative Health Care
An initial assessment at Integrative Health Centre consists of an in-depth interview to collect information including, but not limited to, current and prior health concerns, diet, stress, lifestyle, exercise, past illness, and environmental exposure, to identify the cause of any symptoms presented. Following this, the patient undergoes a quick external physical exam followed by additional testing to detect underlying causes and imbalances. The patient is then educated on what is causing the imbalance and what complementary and alternative medicine practices may be beneficial to return them to health. Patient understanding and compliance are the most important components in the healing process; therefore, visits are designed to create an atmosphere of trust and open communication.
What to Expect from Naturopathy Treatment?
Naturopathic and alternative medicine emerges from five underlying principles of healing, which distinguishes it from other medical approaches. These principles guide every naturopathy treatment, including diet recommendations, lifestyle changes, supplements, natural therapies and more.
1 - THE HEALING POWER OF NATURE
The body has the inherent ability to establish, maintain, and restore health, and knowing this is what makes some natural therapies so powerful. The doctor's role in complementary and alternative medicine is to facilitate and encourage this process, acting to identify and remove obstacles to health and recovery, and to support the creation of a healthy internal and external environment. Underlying causes of disease, rather than the symptomatic expression, must be discovered and treated before a person can recover completely from an illness. Alternative healthcare can be a great path for achieving these wellness goals.
2 - FIRST DO NO HARM
Illness is a purposeful process in an individual's body, and a doctor's actions can either support or antagonize this process. Alternative therapies and interventions should be synergistic with the healing process, which is what makes natural therapies so beneficial in some. Naturopathy treatment programs designed to suppress symptoms without removing underlying causes of the condition are considered harmful and avoided.
3 - TREAT THE WHOLE PERSON
Our alternative health care principles treat health and disease as conditions of the whole individual, involving a complex interaction of physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, genetic, environmental, social, and other factors. In alternative medicine, the doctor must treat the whole person by taking all of these factors into account. The harmonious functioning of all aspects of the individual is embraced with naturopathy treatments, and naturopathy and alternative health care considers both the recovery and prevention of disease as essential.
4 - DOCTOR AS TEACHER
Beyond an accurate diagnosis and appropriate naturopathy treatment plan, the doctor must work to create a cooperative and sensitive interpersonal relationship with the patient. The doctor's primary role is to educate and encourage the patient to take responsibility for his or her health. The patient ultimately creates or accomplishes healing; the doctor is merely a catalyst for change through naturopathy treatment.
5 - PREVENTION
The ultimate goal of any health care system should be prevention. In alternative health care, this is accomplished through education and promotion of habits that create optimal health. The doctor assesses risk factors and hereditary susceptibility to disease and makes appropriate interventions or recommends natural therapies to avoid further harm and risk to the patient. Complementary and alternative medicines should be directed towards holistic and proactive measures to help reveal the best possible patient results.