"Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability or evidence of effectiveness."
Methods of diagnosis used in naturopathic medicine, such as iridology, tongue diagnosis, and muscle testing.
Anatomy and Physiology: An understanding of the body's structure and function is essential for naturopathic diagnosis.
Pathology: This involves understanding the underlying causes and mechanisms of diseases and disorders.
Nutrition: Nutrition is a crucial aspect of naturopathic medicine, as it aids in healing and wellness.
Biochemistry: Biochemistry is integral in understanding how the body functions on a molecular level and how natural remedies may affect biochemical interactions.
Herbology: Naturopathic doctors use herbs to treat various medical conditions, and an understanding of the properties of different herbs and their uses can be very beneficial for diagnostics.
Physical Assessment: Naturopathic diagnosis includes assessing patients' physical conditions through palpation, observation, and other hands-on techniques.
Diagnostic Imaging: Imaging techniques like X-rays, MRI scans, and ultrasound can assist in diagnosis and help identify underlying health issues.
Traditional Chinese Medicine: TCM is a centuries-old medical system that entails various diagnostic techniques, including pulse and tongue diagnosis.
Homeopathy: Homeopathy is a system of medicine that uses highly diluted substances to stimulate the body's natural healing processes.
Naturopathic Modalities: This includes various modalities like acupuncture, chiropractic, massage therapy, and hydrotherapy, each of which can be used for diagnosis and treatment.
Toxicology: This field deals with identifying and treating toxic substances that may harm the body, such as heavy metals and environmental toxins.
Mind-Body Medicine: Mental health plays a significant role in physical wellbeing, and naturopathic practitioners may use approaches like mindfulness and relaxation to support their patients' overall health.
Environmental Medicine: This field identifies environmental factors that can influence a patient's health, including food and water quality, air pollution, and pesticide exposure.
Functional Medicine: This approach emphasizes the underlying causes of conditions and how they interact with a patient's body rather than focusing on symptoms.
Genetics and Genomics: An understanding of genetics can help naturopathic practitioners better understand how a patient's unique genetic makeup can affect their health.
Pediatrics and Women's Health: These specialties focus specifically on diagnosing and treating pediatric and women's health conditions.
Integrative Medicine: Integrative medicine utilizes both traditional and alternative medicine approaches to support a patient's health and wellbeing.
Interpersonal Communication: A strong understanding of effective communication techniques is essential for naturopathic doctors to build strong relationships with their patients and provide effective diagnoses and care.
Case history and physical examination: A naturopathic doctor conducts a comprehensive interview with the patient to understand their medical history and lifestyle, nutrition, and environment. Also, the doctor observes the patient's physical state, including posture, skin, and hair appearance.
Laboratory tests: Naturopathic doctors use various lab tests to assess the patient's nutritional, metabolic, endocrine, and cardiovascular status. These tests may include blood, urine, and saliva analysis, stool analysis, allergy testing, and heavy metal toxicity screening.
Naturopathic physical examinations: These are non-invasive physical assessments of body functions such as temperature, skin color and texture, hair analysis, urine, and stool evaluation to evaluate the body's balance and healing potential.
Body composition analysis: This diagnostic technique measures the patient's body fat, muscle mass, and visceral fat content. This information helps to identify the patient's ideal weight, body-fat balance, and metabolic health.
Iridology: This diagnostic technique examines the iris, sclera, and other structures in the eye to detect possible health problems.
Tongue, nail, and pulse diagnosis: This diagnostic technique is based on the principles of traditional Chinese medicine. The naturopathic doctor evaluates the tongue and nail color, shape, and texture as well as the pulse rate, rhythm, and strength to diagnose imbalances in the body.
Bioenergetic testing: This diagnostic technique measures the patient's electrical energy by using devices such as an electrocardiogram, impedance meter, or biofeedback machine. It helps to identify the subtle energy imbalances in the body.
Functional medicine testing: This diagnostic technique focuses on identifying the root cause of chronic diseases by testing genetic, microbiome, and autoimmune markers.
Nutritional assessment: A naturopathic doctor evaluates the patient's dietary habits and helps the patient understand the benefits of a balanced and nutrient-rich diet.
"Unlike modern medicine, which employs the scientific method to test plausible therapies by way of responsible and ethical clinical trials, producing repeatable evidence of either effect or of no effect, alternative therapies reside outside of medical science."
"Frequently used terms for relevant practices are New Age medicine, pseudo-medicine, unorthodox medicine, holistic medicine, fringe medicine, and unconventional medicine, with little distinction from quackery."
"...but instead rely on testimonials, anecdotes, religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural 'energies,' pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, or other unscientific sources."
"Some alternative practices are based on theories that contradict the established science of how the human body works; others resort to the supernatural or superstitious to explain their effect or lack thereof."
"In others, the practice has plausibility but lacks a positive risk–benefit outcome probability."
"Research into alternative therapies often fails to follow proper research protocols (such as placebo-controlled trials, blind experiments, and calculation of prior probability), providing invalid results."
"Much of the perceived effect of an alternative practice arises from a belief that it will be effective (the placebo effect)."
"Multiple studies have shown significantly worse outcomes if patients turn to alternative therapies. While this may be because these patients avoid effective treatment, some alternative therapies are actively harmful..."
"The alternative medicine sector is a highly profitable industry with a strong lobby, and faces far less regulation over the use and marketing of unproven treatments."
"Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), integrated medicine or integrative medicine (IM), and holistic medicine attempt to combine alternative practices with those of mainstream medicine."
"Traditional medicine practices become 'alternative' when used outside their original settings and without proper scientific explanation and evidence."
"Alternative methods are often marketed as more 'natural' or 'holistic' than methods offered by medical science, that is sometimes derogatorily called 'Big Pharma' by supporters of alternative medicine."
"Billions of dollars have been spent studying alternative medicine, with few or no positive results and many methods thoroughly disproven."
"...despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability or evidence of effectiveness."
"...do not originate from using the scientific method, but instead rely on testimonials, anecdotes, religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural 'energies', pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, or other unscientific sources."
"...but instead rely on testimonials, anecdotes, religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural 'energies,' pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, or other unscientific sources."
"Some alternative therapies are actively harmful (e.g. cyanide poisoning from amygdalin, or the intentional ingestion of hydrogen peroxide) or actively interfere with effective treatments."
"Unlike modern medicine, which employs the scientific method... alternative therapies reside outside of medical science and do not originate from using the scientific method."
"This is further exacerbated by the tendency to turn to alternative therapies upon the failure of medicine, at which point the condition will be at its worst and most likely to spontaneously improve."