What does a naturopathic doctor do?

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The problem is that there is a wide range of practices here. Some naturopaths oppose surgery, vaccination, and medication on philosophical grounds while promoting treatments that have no scientific basis. Other naturopaths are more conventional physicians who use alternative medicine as an compliment to traditional medicine. There are certainly herbs that have medicinal properties but they are not necessarily safer or more effective than pharmaceutical medicines. There are herbal treatments that are reasonable options though. Some conditions do respond to acupuncture or chiropractic treatments but for reasons far different than the long discredited theories these branches of medicine were founded on. Homeopathy is the most far fetched and bizarre form of snakeoil I know of. It makes no sense what so ever in light of current medical knowledge and I do not believe it has ever demonstrated efficacy in any unbiased well controlled study. My primary care doctor is pretty open minded about alternative medicine. In fact though her current specialty is family medicine she is working toward a specialty in complimentary and alternative medicine. I figure I can get the best of both worlds seeing her.