Licensed Naturopathic Doctors in Ontario have a wide scope of practice, which allows them to offer a variety of therapies to their patients.
Common therapeutics include:
Lifestyle counselling: During all four years of their naturopathic schooling, ND’s have had a great deal of training on overall wellness and health optimization. They can counsel you on many things such as diet, sleep, exercise, stress etc… to optimize your overall health and help you reach your wellness goals, as well as focus on prevention of disease.
Nutritional counselling: ND’s spend quite a lot of time learning about nutrition and the different ways that food can work as medicine. Nutritional counselling is something you can commonly expect when going to see an ND.
Dietary supplements: ND’s are very skilled at knowing which dietary supplements to utilize in order to benefit their patients’ ailments, and to optimize their overall wellness.
Acupuncture: ND’s are clinically trained in both traditional and functional acupuncture techniques.
Botanical Medicine: ND's have a vast knowledge of botanical medicine, which is the use of different plants and herbs in different forms (teas, tinctures, tablets) used for therapeutic purposes.
Spinal manipulation: ND’s are trained in spinal adjustment techniques and soft tissue therapy.
Body work: ND’s are also trained in other body work therapies such as cupping and massage techniques.
Hydrotherapy: ND’s are trained on the benefits of utilizing contrasting water temperatures to help with a variety of different conditions.
Homeopathy: ND’s have some training on homeopathic medicine, and can further their knowledge with continuing education seminars if they choose.
Gynecological and genitourinary exams: Did you know that it’s within your ND’s scope in Ontario to perform your routine PAP and gynecological exams! ND’s spend about three years learning the appropriate techniques and indications for these exams.
Lab Work: ND’s are able to requisition blood work - they can spend a significant amount of time going over your blood work to determine optimal blood levels for specific conditions and general health.
Functional Tests: ND’s can also requisition other functional testing such as hormonal or gastrointestinal profiling, testing for food intolerances, and much more.
Continuing Education:
In Ontario, Nd's are able to obtain their prescribing rights after undergoing continuing education an additional exam, which will then allow them to prescribe a limited amount of controlled substances, as well as administer some specific intramuscular and subcutaneous injections such as B12.
After obtaining their prescribing rights, an ND can then undergo more additional education and write further exams to obtain their intravenous license in order to administer some IV substances.
For more information on common Naturopathic therapeutics visit: https://www.cand.ca/common-questions-naturopathic-treatments/
Blog Creator
Samantha Allen
Naturopathic Graduate
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