Naturopathy with your  Acupuncture Treatment

Naturopathy History, Chinese Medicine Maitland Expert

Naturopathy is a complementary therapy that works very well alongside other medical and therapeutic techniques. It supports and encourages a person to pursue a healthier lifestyle by emphasising the importance of a healthy diet, exercise and stress management.

A range of therapies are used to support the person through the state of wellness imbalance and back to wellness. These therapies include nutritional medicine, diet advice, herbal medicine, lifestyle advice, lifestyle coaching and massage.

At the time of consultation the Naturopath will take a thorough health history, including questions about diet, lifestyle, family and environmental factors. This will be used to determine the treatment plan and frequency of appointments.

At the Maitland Wellness Centre, our Naturopath will incorporate Chinese Medicine therapy for a more wholistic approach. This includes Acupuncture and possibly Traditional Chinese Medicine herbs.

All our therapists deliver a professional and caring approach to support the person seeking to attain wellness.  Patricio, one of our acupuncturists,  draws on his skills and knowledge as a Registered Nurse and Naturopath to enhance his acupuncture treatments.

 

Chinese herbal medicine came to Australia with the Chinese immigrants that came in the gold rush of the 1800s. Naturopathy emerges in Australia in the 1900s. The oldest medical association in Australia was established in 1920, and was known as the National Herbalist Association of Australia . In 1925 the Victorian parliament tried to outlaw the practice of herbalism by anyone except pharmacists. With the help of the Chinese herbalists and the support of the general public, a petition of 6000 signature was able to force the Victorian parliament to withdraw this bill.  This paved the way for the evolution of Naturopathy in Australia from its early origin.

 

Modern Australian Naturopathy evolved from the practice of herbal medicine. The main tacit of Naturopathy is herbal medicine and nutritional prescriptions. It also encompasses massage, flower remedies, homeopathy, iridology, tissue salts and celloids. A more recent evolution of Naturopathy, is the movement into Naturopathic Medicine. This framework involves modern science and medicine. Its focus is not dissimilar to Naturopathy as it uses herbal medicine, nutrition and nutritional supplements. Thus today Naturopathy is a system of primary health care that uses an eclectic collection of modalities which combines art and the science of medicine using traditional forms of healing and modern scientific knowledge in the prevention and treatment of illness.

 

With the above in mind, is it possible that Naturopathy is a unique approach to health and wellness of the individual? The answer to this lays in the six steps to wellness or the Principles of Naturopathy.

 

Six Steps to Wellness

 1. The healing power of Nature – Vis Medicatrix Naturae

 

 Naturopathic medicine understand the role of nature as a healing entity. Given the correct condition the body can obtained its innate ability to heal its self. Natures healing agents such as air, earth, water and sun combined with a clean diet, exercise, sleep, relaxation and meditation support the bodies innate ability to heal. This is not dissimilar to the Chinese medicine concept of balancing Yin and Yang to attain wellness.

 

2. Identify and treat the Cause –  Tolle Causam

All illnesses have a cause, a root and to achieve, wellness the root must be identified. Symptoms are a warning of a disharmony in the body. This disharmony is first identified, then symptoms are neither removed or suppressed in order to restore health, but that the cause of the disharmony is removed to obtained harmony. Naturopathic medicine like Chinese medicine supports the body to obtain or restore health by treating the cause and thus allowing the body to achieve harmony, and thus the disappearance of the symptoms.

 

3.  Treat the whole person – Tolle Totum

 The person centred model of care is used to support not only the physical but the emotional, mental, social, familial and spiritual aspect of the person to achieve health and wellness. Like in Chinese medicine, Naturopathic medicine understands that the individual lives between heaven and earth, and that this intricate and intimate interplay of the human experience is complex, and thus a reductionist approach to health is short sighted and diseased focused.

 

4. First do no harm – Primum Non Nocere

 Naturopathic medicine understands the ability of the body to heal itself and is supported by treatments that are non invasive, that avoids suppression of symptoms and uses harmless doses of medicine.

 

5. Doctors as Teacher – Docere

 Naturopathic medicine, like Chinese Medicine, seeks to motivate and inspire the patient, to empower them and to encourage self empowerment. The doctor as a teacher, understands that the body can heal itself and optimum health lays with the body itself, thus the Naturopathic medicine supports this ability through education.

 

6. Prevention – Preventare

 Prevention of disease is at the heart of all medicine. Naturopathic medicine like Chinese medicine attempts to identify susceptibility, genetic tendencies, risk factors and constitutional make up to prevent the sequelae of disease states and the development of new states.