Clinical Naturopathic Medicine - US Elsevier He... [2021]
Written by Leah Hechtman, Clinical Naturopathic Medicine is a foundation clinical text integrating the holistic traditional principles of naturopathic philosophy with the scientific rigour of evidence-based medicine (EBM) to support contemporary practices and principles. The text addresses all systems of the body and their related common conditions, with clear, accessible directions outlining how a practitioner can understand health from a naturopathic medicine and apply naturopathic medicines to treat patients individually. These treatments include herbal medicine, nutritional medicine and lifestyle recommendations. All chapters are structured by system and then by condition, so readers are easily able to navigate the content by chapter and heading structure.
Clinical Naturopathic Medicine - US Elsevier He...
The American Journal of Medicine - "The Green Journal" - publishes original clinical research of interest to physicians in internal medicine, both in academia and community-based practice. AJM is the official journal of the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, a prestigious group comprising internal medicine department chairs at more than 125 medical schools across the U.S. Each issue carries useful reviews as well as seminal articles of immediate interest to the practicing physician, including peer-reviewed, original scientific studies that have direct clinical significance and position papers on health care issues, medical education, and public policy.
Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine, is a form of alternative medicine.[1] A wide array of pseudoscientific practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", or promoting "self-healing" are employed by its practitioners, who are known as naturopaths. Difficult to generalize, these treatments range from outright quackery, like homeopathy, to widely accepted practices like certain forms of psychotherapy.[2][3][4] The ideology and methods of naturopathy are based on vitalism and folk medicine rather than evidence-based medicine, although practitioners may use techniques supported by evidence.[5][6][7]
The term "naturopathy" originates from "natura" (Latin root for birth) and "pathos" (the Greek root for suffering) to suggest "natural healing".[22] Naturopaths claim the ancient Greek "Father of Medicine", Hippocrates, as the first advocate of naturopathic medicine, before the term existed.[22][23] Naturopathy has its roots in the 19th-century Natural Cure movement of Europe.[24][25] In Scotland, Thomas Allinson started advocating his "Hygienic Medicine" in the 1880s, promoting a natural diet and exercise with avoidance of tobacco and overwork.[26][27]
After a period of rapid growth, naturopathy went into decline for several decades after the 1930s. In 1910, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching published the Flexner Report, which criticized many aspects of medical education, especially quality and lack of scientific rigour. The advent of penicillin and other "miracle drugs" and the consequent popularity of modern medicine also contributed to naturopathy's decline. In the 1940s and 1950s, a broadening in scope of practice laws led many chiropractic schools to drop their ND degrees, though many chiropractors continued to practice naturopathy. From 1940 to 1963, the American Medical Association campaigned against heterodox medical systems. By 1958, practice of naturopathy was licensed in only five states.[29] In 1968, the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare issued a report on naturopathy concluding that naturopathy was not grounded in medical science and that naturopathic education was inadequate to prepare graduates to make appropriate diagnosis and provide treatment; the report recommends against expanding Medicare coverage to include naturopathic treatments.[16][33] In 1977 an Australian committee of inquiry reached similar conclusions; it did not recommend licensure for naturopaths.[34]
In 2015, a former naturopathic doctor, Britt Marie Hermes, began writing critically about her experience being trained in and practicing naturopathic medicine.[42][43] Her blog garnered a large following among skeptics while enraging some proponents of alternative medicine.[44]
In 2003, a report[48] was presented by Kimball C. Atwood, an American medical doctor and researcher from Newton, Massachusetts, best known as a critic of naturopathic medicine, stating among other criticisms that "The practice of naturopathy is based on a belief in the body's ability to heal itself through a special vital energy or force guiding bodily processes internally".[12]
A consultation typically begins with a comprehensive patient interview assessing lifestyle, medical history, emotional tone, and physical features, as well as physical examination.[1] Many naturopaths present themselves as primary care providers, and some naturopathic physicians may prescribe drugs, perform minor surgery, and integrate other conventional medical approaches such as diet and lifestyle counselling with their naturopathic practice.[1][52] Traditional naturopaths deal exclusively with lifestyle changes, not diagnosing or treating disease. Naturopaths do not generally recommend vaccines and antibiotics, based in part on the early views that shaped the profession, and they may provide alternative remedies even in cases where evidence-based medicine has been shown effective.[15]
The particular modalities used by a naturopath vary with training and scope of practice. These may include herbalism, homeopathy,[45] acupuncture, nature cures, physical medicine, applied kinesiology,[53] colonic enemas,[18][46] chelation therapy,[17] color therapy,[53] cranial osteopathy, hair analysis, iridology,[53] live blood analysis, ozone therapy,[16] psychotherapy, public health measures and hygiene,[51] reflexology,[53] rolfing,[32] massage therapy, and traditional Chinese medicine. Nature cures include a range of therapies based on exposure to natural elements such as sunshine, fresh air, or heat or cold, as well as nutrition advice such as following a vegetarian and whole food diet, fasting, or abstention from alcohol and sugar.[54] Physical medicine includes naturopathic, osseous, or soft tissue manipulative therapy, sports medicine, exercise, and hydrotherapy. Psychological counseling includes meditation, relaxation, and other methods of stress management.[54]
A 2004 survey determined the most commonly prescribed naturopathic therapeutics in Washington state and Connecticut were botanical medicines, vitamins, minerals, homeopathy, and allergy treatments.[45] An examination published in 2011 of naturopathic clinic websites in Alberta and British Columbia found that the most commonly advertised therapies were homeopathy, botanical medicine, nutrition, acupuncture, lifestyle counseling, and detoxification.[46]
Naturopathy as a whole lacks an adequate scientific basis,[5] and it is rejected by the medical community.[5] Although it includes valid lifestyle advice from mainstream medicine (healthy sleep, balanced diet, regular exercise),[15] it typically adds a range of pseudoscientific beliefs.[22] Some methods rely on immaterial "vital energy fields", the existence of which has not been proven, and there is concern that naturopathy as a field tends towards isolation from general scientific discourse.[22][58][59] Naturopathy is criticized for its reliance on and its association with unproven, disproven, and other controversial alternative medical treatments, and for its vitalistic underpinnings.[15][16] Natural substances known as nutraceuticals show little promise in treating diseases, especially cancer, as laboratory experiments have shown limited therapeutic effect on biochemical pathways, while clinical trials demonstrate poor bioavailability.[60] According to the American Cancer Society, "scientific evidence does not support claims that naturopathic medicine can cure cancer or any other disease".[16] According to Britt Hermes, naturopath student programs are problematic because "As a naturopath [student], you are making justifications to make the rules and to fudge the standards of how to interpret research all along the way. Because if you don't, you're not left with anything, basically".[61]
A former licensed naturopathic doctor, Britt Marie Hermes, states that "any product that is sold by a naturopath almost guarantees that there is no reliable scientific data to support whatever health claims are made,[63] and that while some naturopaths claim to only practice evidence based medicine, "the problem is, all naturopaths in an accredited naturopathic program are required to extensively study homeopathy, herbal medicine, energy healing, chiropractic techniques, water therapy" and other pseudoscientific practices.[61] Hermes further notes that, while some naturopaths claim that their method can be effective treatments for psychological disorders, "no naturopathic treatment has been clinically proven to be safe and effective for bipolar disorder or any other condition."[64]
In general, evidence about associations between naturopathy and pediatric vaccination is sparse, but "published reports suggest that only a minority of naturopathic physicians actively support full vaccination".[77][78] In Washington state from 2000 to 2003, children were significantly less likely to receive immunizations if they had seen a naturopath.[77] A survey of naturopathic students published in 2004 found that students at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine became less likely to recommend vaccinations to their patients and became more distrustful of public health and conventional medicine as they advanced in the program.[10] 041b061a72