PhysioActive

Naturopathic Medicine

Please join our Naturopath and Holistic Nutritionist on February 22nd 2012 at 7 p.m. for a free talk on Optimal Ways to be Healthy. Contact the clinic to sign-up or if you have any questions.

How Naturopathic Doctors View Disease and Healing?

Naturopathic Doctors undergo 8 years of training to become primary care professional who can listen to their patients, can diagnose and assess, and can develop tailored natural treatment plans. These are the tenets we follow on the road to healing:

• Your Body Knows How to Heal: The body has within it all the potential and intelligence it needs to heal. With this in mind, Naturopathic Doctors simply remove obstacles to health and recovery, support the development of a healthy internal and external environment, and voila the body does the heavy lifting of actually healing!
• Preventing and Promoting: In addition to being trained to accurately diagnose and treat every condition, we are also trained to be proactive about disease. By looking at various risks, genetic susceptibilities, and lifestyle choices we are capable of intervening before another health tragedy occurs. We focus on health promotion and disease prevention.
• Find the Root: Symptoms are not the disease, but the voice of an underlying issue. By finding the root cause Naturopathic Doctors treat both the cause and the surface issue at the same time. The underlying cause can be diet, emotional patterns, daily habits, past experiences, posture, or even one’s environment.
• Do No Harm: Just like a medical doctor, we attempt to heal a patient with the least invasive approach as possible. Some ways Naturopathic Doctors do this is by avoiding suppressing symptoms, following the individual’s healing process (regardless of how fast or slow it is), and using safe and effective natural therapies with less side effects.
• Seeing the Whole Person: Through examining a person on their spiritual, mental, emotional, genetic, environmental, social, and physical levels Naturopathic Doctors have a greater view of the individual and their current state. In order to treat a person effectively one must look on all these levels, because they are intertwined.
• Doctor as Teacher: A Naturopathic Doctor will sit down with you and explain the disease process, the factors affecting that process, and all you need to know to move back into a healthy state. Our job is to educate and motivate you to take charge of your health, because in the end it is you who accomplishes the healing. Schoolhouse Rock was right, knowledge is power!

How do Naturopathic Doctors Treat?

Naturopathic Doctors employ a wide range of different treatment options when working with patients. Since I view every person as unique and every case is different, I don’t use the same therapies on everyone. The following is a list of the general categories I look into when choosing the right care for you:

• Botanical Medicine: is a plant based approach that involves the use of herbal teas, tinctures (alcoholic or glycerine preparation of herbs), capsules, baths, or topical herbal applications.
• Homeopathy: is a form of medicine based on the use of tiny doses of the very thing that causes symptoms in a larger dose in healthy people. These minute doses of plant, animal, or mineral origins are used to stimulate the body’s ability to heal itself
• Asian Medicine or Traditional Chinese Medicine: includes the use of acupuncture, cupping, Eastern herbal preparations, and dietary changes to eliminate disease and balance the body. Diagnosis is conducted based off tongue, pulse, facial, and verbal investigation. Acupuncture refers to the insertion of sterilized disposable needles through the skin into underlying tissues at specific points on the body. Eastern herbs may be given in the form of pills, tinctures, or decoctions (strong teas) to be taken internally. Cupping is the use of suction cups cutaneously applied to increase local blood flow and energy.
• Physical Medicine: is the use of hands-on techniques to diagnose or treat a particular ailment. Generally, I refer to chiropractors or physiotherapists for physical manipulations of the body.
• Hydrotherapy: is the use of water to treat the body. It includes contrasting hot and cold water applications, special baths, steam and sauna treatments, or dry skin brushing to increase circulation and stimulate the immune system
• Lifestyle counseling: is composed of modification to your current physical, mental, environmental, and emotional habits based off identifiable risk factors and obstacles.
• Clinical nutrition: refers to dietary changes needed to mend your current complaints and increase overall nutritional status. If I can’t alter the diet to get the effects we want, then I will use different nutraceuticals (like vitamins or minerals) through powder, liquid, or tablet form to bring about the proper change in the body.

Conditions Kathryn Focuses on

• Women’s Health (PMS, painful periods, menopause)
• Cold and Flu Prevention
• High Blood Pressure or Cholesterol
• Weight Loss
• Sleep Issues
• Stress Management
• Thyroid disorders (low or high)
• Healthy Living
• Low energy

Common Condition treated by Naturopaths

• Arthritis
• Allergies (seasonal and food)
• Hormonal Imbalances
• Bone loss (Osteoporosis and Osteopenia)
• Fertility
• Chronic Pain
• Migraines & Headaches
• Mood disorders (Anxiety, Depression, etc)
• Skin Conditions (Acne, Eczema, Psoriasis, etc)
• Diabetes
• Poor Digestion
• Constipation and Diarrhea

Ways a Naturopath can help

• Increasing energy
• Reducing pain
• Sleeping through the night
• Losing weight
• Increase libido
• Preventing disease development
• Reducing muscle or PMS cramps
• Reducing cholesterol or blood pressure
• Enhancing mood
• Preventing and relieving seasonal allergies
• Healthy pregnancy
• Naturally beautiful skin free of blemishes and lesions
• Healthy daily diet and habits
• Reducing feelings of stress

Questions a Naturopath Can Answer

• What is a healthy diet?
• Supplement questions:
• Do I need to take everything I hear about?
• How much should I take?
• How do I know if it is working?
• What should I look for when buying it?
• Will it interact with my medications?
• What’s the natural approach to my issues?
• How much exercise is good for me?
• How can I prevent different things from happening? (like arthritis, breast cancer, diabetes)
• How do I reduce my stress?
• How can I sleep better?
• How can I feel my best?
• What is a detox?
• How can I keep myself healthy during cold and flu session
• How can I get more energy?