Naturopathic Care
High Desert Naturopathic Care provides full family health care and serves patients of all ages. All illnesses and health goals can be addressed through naturopathic medicine (though in some cases it may be advisable to seek medical care from an MD as well). If you are seeing an MD for your condition, naturopathic care can add supportive treatment. During your visit to HDNC, Dr. Keller will take a thorough health history and perform physical exams and lab work as needed. Your treatment plan may include a combination of: nutritional counseling, exercise recommendations, botanical formulas, homeopathy, nutritional supplementation, meditation, visualization, bodywork, and home therapies.
What Is Naturopathic Medicine?
Naturopathic medicine is a distinctively natural approach to health and healing which recognizes the integrity of the whole person and emphasizes the treatment of disease through the stimulation, enhancement, and support of the inherent healing capacity of the individual. Methods of treatment are chosen to work with the individual patient’s needs, respecting the intelligence of the natural healing process. Naturopathic medicine combines safe and effective traditional therapies with the most current advances in modern medicine.Naturopathic physicians (N.D.s) are highly trained family practice doctors who use a wide range of naturopathic medical modalities. In addition to the basic medical sciences and conventional diagnostics, naturopathic education includes therapeutic nutrition, botanical medicine, homeopathy, natural childbirth, classical Chinese medicine, hydrotherapy, naturopathic manipulative therapy, pharmacology and minor surgery.*Therapies may include the sciences of clinical nutrition, botanical medicine, homeopathic medicine, physical medicine, mind-body medicine and lifestyle counseling, minor surgery, and hydrotherapy. These approaches are combined and tailored to the needs of the individual patient, while emphasizing education and empowerment of the patient to participate actively in their own healthcare.
The following principles are the foundation that naturopathic medical practice is built upon:
- First Do No Harm
- Respect the Healing Power of Nature
- Identify & Treat the Cause
- Treat the Whole Person
- The Physician as Teacher
- Prevention is the Best “Cure”
*Naturopathic medicine is not yet licensed or regulated in the state of New Mexico. Therefore, the scope of practice is limited and not all treatments may be offered. Also, when choosing a practitioner, it is important to distinguish those naturopathic physicians that have completed an intensive four-year graduate program at an accredited school from those who have completed a short-term course in naturopathy (usually by correspondence). The licensed naturopathic physician has a Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine (ND) degree from a four-year post-graduate level naturopathic medical school. In states where naturopathic physicians are regulated, graduates of an accredited school must pass a national board examination. Once licensed, their actions are subject to review by a state board of Naturopathic Examiners in the state where they are licensed to practice medicine.