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What is naturopathic medicine? The six principles explained
- Naturopathic medicine is a whole-person system of care that asks why a problem is happening, not only how to ease it.
- It is defined by six guiding principles, not by one treatment.
- Conventional medicine leads on emergencies and surgery. Naturopathic care leads on causes, lifestyle and prevention.
- At McSara, we assess, test, plan and follow up ourselves. We refer for surgery, and we do not handle emergencies.
What is naturopathic medicine?
Naturopathic medicine is a whole-person system of care built around one question: why is this happening? Instead of stopping at easing a symptom, a naturopathic practitioner looks for what is driving it, and builds your care around the answer.
It is not defined by one treatment. It is defined by six guiding principles, and the tools a practitioner uses, such as nutrition, herbal medicine and lifestyle guidance, follow from those principles. [1]
How is it different from conventional medicine?
Conventional medicine is the mainstream system most of us know: doctors, nurses and pharmacists using standard treatments, such as drugs and surgery, that are built on scientific research. [3] It is outstanding at emergencies, trauma and surgery.
Think of a fire brigade and a building inspector. The fire brigade rushes in when there is a fire, and nothing replaces it. The inspector's job is to find the faulty wiring before the fire starts. Both matter, but they do different jobs.
Naturopathic care works much more like the inspector. It looks at how you eat, sleep, move and cope, uses tests to see what is happening inside, and works on the causes. When a patient needs surgery, we refer them. Emergencies are outside our practice, and we send people to the nearest hospital without delay.
What defines naturopathic medicine?
If naturopathic medicine is not defined by its tools, what holds it together? Six principles. When the profession in North America wrote its formal definition in 1989, the first point everyone agreed on was to define the profession by its principles rather than by its therapies. [1] A World Naturopathic Federation survey later found a high level of agreement with those principles across 42 countries. [1]
What a practitioner offers varies from country to country, depending on training and regulation. [2] At McSara, it means naturopathic consultations, laboratory testing and review, nutrition and lifestyle guidance, herbal medicine and traditional therapies such as acupuncture and cupping, all built around the individual. Here are the six principles, one at a time.
Principle 1: First, do no harm (Primum non nocere)
Imagine hiking to a viewpoint. If a gentle path and a dangerous one both reach the top, which do you choose first? The first principle says the same about care: use the options that carry the least risk, and the least intervention needed. [1]
We take a full health and medication history before we recommend anything, we explain what each step is for, and we treat symptoms as information rather than something to be silenced. Gentle does not mean passive. It means every step is deliberate.
Principle 2: Support the body's natural healing (Vis medicatrix naturae)
Your body is built to recover. A cut closes. A bone knits. Naturopathic medicine is built on this fact: the body has its own self-organising healing process. [1] So what if the body does not need to be pushed harder, but needs less standing in its way?
Our job is to find what is blocking recovery, such as ongoing stress, poor sleep or gaps in nutrition, to clear the way and to support the body's own work. When something is beyond what the body can do alone, such as an injury that needs surgery, we say so and refer you promptly.
Principle 3: Treat the causes (Tolle causam)
If your roof leaks, do you keep emptying the bucket, or do you find where the water gets in? The third principle holds that symptoms are clues, and that a practitioner's work is to follow them to their causes. [1]
Causes rarely come from one place. [1] That is why we look at food, sleep, stress, personal and family history, and laboratory results together. We order laboratory tests where they are needed and review the results you already have, so that care is based on what is actually happening in your body, not on guesswork.
Principle 4: Treat the whole person (Tolle totum)
A plant with yellowing leaves might need more water, more light or better soil. If you look only at the leaves, you miss the garden. The fourth principle says that health and illness result from a complex of physical, mental, emotional, genetic, environmental, social and other factors. [1]
Could your tiredness be about more than a blood test? Could your digestion be affected by what is happening at work or at home? Treating the whole person means asking those questions and building a plan around your life, not around a single symptom.
Principle 5: The practitioner as teacher (Docere)
If someone hands you a map, you can find your own way. If they only tell you where to stand, you are stuck the moment things change. The fifth principle builds on the original meaning of the word 'doctor', which is teacher, and emphasises educating the patient and encouraging self-responsibility for health. [1]
Would you follow a plan more faithfully if you understood the reason behind each step? That is why we explain the 'why' behind every recommendation. You leave with a plan you understand and can follow, and with the confidence to make your own decisions about your health.
Principle 6: Prevention (Praevenire)
In Lagos, we service the generator before the next blackout, not in the middle of it. Why should our health be any different? The sixth principle puts prevention and the pursuit of good health at the centre of care: assessing risk factors, family history and susceptibility, and acting early. [1]
Some risks, such as raised blood sugar or cholesterol, can show up on tests well before any symptom does. Finding them early gives you time to act. We look early at nutrition, sleep, stress and activity, and we use testing to see where you stand.
Questions worth asking any practitioner
Choosing a practitioner is an important decision, so ask good questions. At McSara, we welcome them.
- What are your qualifications, and are you registered or licensed to practise here?
- How do you find the cause of a problem, and what tests do you use?
- What happens if my condition needs surgery or emergency care?
- How will we know whether the plan is working?
What to expect at your first visit
Your first consultation is a conversation. We take your health history and talk through your stress, sleep, eating and daily life. We review any test results you already have and, where needed, order tests. Then we explain what we found, the options and a plan you agree with. You can read the details, including fees and how to prepare, on our Patient Information page. A request is not a confirmed booking until the clinic confirms it.
Surgery and emergencies
Care at McSara is led by us from assessment to follow-up. We refer you when you need surgery. Emergencies are outside our practice. If you have any of the following, go to the nearest hospital without delay:
- Chest pain, difficulty breathing, or sudden weakness or loss of vision
- Severe bleeding, or blood in your stool or urine
- Weight loss that you cannot explain
- A fever that does not go away
References
- Snider P, Zeff J. Unifying principles of naturopathic medicine: origins and definitions. Integrative Medicine: A Clinician's Journal. 2019;18(4):36-39. Source
- World Health Organization. Benchmarks for training in naturopathy. Geneva: WHO; 2010. Source
- National Cancer Institute. Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Patients. Source