Our Approach: In A Nutshell
We incorporate naturopathic and functional medicine approaches in order to:
• Attain as much information as we can about the whole person
• Uncover root causes of dysfunction and obstacles to healing
• Guide individualized treatment plans and care
• Create and support the conditions essential for health
About Naturopathic Medicine
Naturopathic medicine uses elements from numerous healing traditions and practices. It recognizes that health is the natural state of being when we live in compliance with the laws of nature. Wisdom is present in nature and the body. Naturopathic approaches support the innate self-healing capabilities of the body, which means that the body can heal itself if given the right conditions.
Naturopathic medicine pulls from the basic sciences (i.e. biochemistry, pathology, physiology, anatomy, immunology, microbiology) as well as the clinical sciences (i.e. clinical nutrition, botanical medicine, physical medicine, homeopathy, naturopathic counseling). Naturopathic therapies are evidence-based and supported by cutting-edge research.
Naturopathic doctors value health promotion, disease prevention, individualized care, discovering and addressing root causes to dysfunction and disease, treating the whole person, and going beyond the treatment or management of just symptoms.
Naturopathic Doctors Embrace The Following:
The 6 Fundamental Principles of Naturopathic Medicine:
1) First Do No Harm: apply the most safe, gentle, and least invasive methods and therapies while avoiding toxic, invasive, or suppressive therapies.
2) The Healing Power of Nature: remove obstacles that interfere with the body’s natural wisdom and self-healing capacity so that it can heal itself.
3) Identify and Treat the Causes: rather than eliminating or suppressing symptoms, it is preferred to identify and remove the underlying causes that create and contribute to the symptoms in the first place.
4) Treat the Whole Person: consider all of the various elements that comprise each individual’s total health (i.e. physical, mental, emotional, social, environmental, spiritual, genetic).
5) Doctor as Teacher: emphasize patient education and encourage patients to take empowered responsibility for their own health.
6) Prevention: support and optimize overall health as to prevent dysfunction and disease from developing in the first place.
The Therapeutic Order is the Framework to Address Health Issues in a Systematic Way:
1) Establish the Conditions for Health: support the foundations for optimum health by removing obstacles, correcting underlying imbalances, and restoring that which builds and supports health.
2) Stimulate the Body’s Self-Healing Capacity: support the natural healing mechanisms of the body so it can heal itself.
3) Support Weakened or Compromised Organs and Organ Systems: support organs and organ systems so that they can function more effectively.
4) Address Physical Alignment: structural alignment impacts the overall function of all tissues, organs, and organ systems of the body.
5) Symptomatic Relief Utilizing Natural Substances: using natural substances (i.e. botanicals, vitamins, amino acids) for symptom management.
6) Symptomatic Relief Utilizing Pharmacological Substances: using pharmaceutical medications for symptom management.
7) Higher Force Interventions: therapies such as surgery, suppressive drugs, chemotherapy, or radiation may be utilized when appropriate.
An Essential Concept of Naturopathic Medicine:
The Determinants of Health
The determinants of health is an essential concept to understand so that health can be restored and supported. Once we discover what determines our health, we are able to better understand how to restore or support health. Disturbed function and disease states result from ongoing imbalances in the determinants of health.
Initially, the body compensates for these imbalances by creating signs and symptoms. Signs and symptoms are not ‘the problem.’ Instead, their presence indicates an adaptive response to underlying imbalances in the determinants of health. If the imbalance continues, chronic disease can result. It is vital to correct any imbalances in the determinants of health, as it can reverse this process and lead towards decreased signs and symptoms and disturbed function, resulting in improved health.
Although many determinants of health exist, the essential determinants of health include:
• Breath: air quality, breathing mechanics, and breath control.
• Water & Hydration: hydration status, water quality/source, and water-electrolyte balance.
• Sleep: sleep duration, sleep quality, circadian rhythm, and sleep hygiene.
• Nutrition, Digestion, & Microbiome: nutrient-dense diet, nutritional diversity, optimal digestion and absorption of nutrients, and supporting the microbiome with functional foods, prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics.
• Rest, Recreation, Rejuvenation, & Restoration: “vitamin R:” stimulates the parasympathetic aspect (“rest and digest”) of the autonomic nervous system, supports stress management, and promotes healing.
Other determinants of health include (and are not limited to):
• Inborn: genetics, constitution, and maternal health, nutrition, and exposures.
• History of disturbances: history of illness, past medical interventions, environmental/toxic exposures, stressors, and trauma.
• Environmental: past and/or ongoing toxic exposures (i.e. mold/mycotoxins, allergens, pesticides, chemicals, heavy metals, plastics, solvents, other toxins).
• Structural Integrity & Movement: posture, exercise/movement, and flexibility.
• Earth: sunlight, cycles, seasons (daily/circadian rhythm, lunar, and annual cycles), geography, and ecology.
• Social: education, finances, work, culture, community, governmental, and access to healthcare.
• Mental, Emotional, & Spiritual Determinants: intellect/cognition, healthy/nourishing relationships, spiritual/religious beliefs and practices, and emotional balance/wellness.
• Current Medications & Supplements: may support health, may cause side effects, and supplement quality/nutrient form matters.
When in balance, the determinants of health support and create good health. When imbalanced, health is negatively impacted.
Therefore, the primary goal to support and create health is to identify and correct the underlying imbalances in your determinants of health!
About Functional Medicine
Like naturopathic medicine, functional medicine is an approach that embraces holistic and systems thinking. It utilizes and combines strategies and evidence-based research from various disciplines. Since it is principle-based, it can be nicely incorporated into other compatible approaches (such as naturopathic medicine).
Functional medicine seeks to identify the root causes of various diseases and the imbalances that lead to disease states. By testing for and addressing these underlying causes directly, it seeks to improve imbalances and complex disease states. The goal is to restore the function of the patient’s body and overall health.
Functional medicine applies systems thinking to medicine. For example, symptoms do not exist in isolation from the rest of the body. Everything in the body is interconnected, and an imbalance in one part of the body can negatively impact other systems and/or the body as a whole. The individual’s health is interconnected with larger systems as well (i.e. environmental, food systems, social systems). Because it applies systems thinking, individualized care is prioritized in functional medicine over cookie cutter ”one-size-fits-all" solutions or approaches to health.
Naturopathic medicine and functional medicine overlap in several areas. For example, both acknowledge the importance of lifestyle, genetic, and environmental factors. Both value individualized care, evidence-based research, systems thinking, discovering and addressing root causes to dysfunction and disease, disease prevention, looking at the whole person, and going beyond the treatment or management of mere symptoms.