Definition of Naturopathy

There is still no standardised definition of naturopathy. The term goes back to the physician Lorenz Gleich (1798-1865) and deals with natural active factors, summarised as: "Healing without drugs and blood extraction with natural forces". Attempts to uniformly define and systematise the various currents that developed in parallel, together and in succession in the 19th century have so far failed. (Jütte, 1996)

In the second half of the 20th century, K. E. Rothschuh (1965, 1981) und H.D. Hentschel (1987, 1991) and M. Bühring (1992) defined natural effective factors on the basis of scientifically orientated medicine as the influence of:

Light, air, water, earth
Plants, minerals
a natural diet
Exercise and rest
Climatic stimuli
Adherence to natural biorhythms

These classic pillars of naturopathy have evolved historically in Germany in the development of curative medicine (German: “Kurmedizin”) and can be traced back in their original systematics to the principles of the healing concepts established by Pastor Kneipp. In broad terms, they currently encompass:

Nutritional therapy with wholefoods, raw foods, Buchinger fasting programme, Schroth cure
Breathing and movement therapy with all forms of massage, classic massage, manual lymph drainage, reflex zone therapies such as connective tissue massage, colon treatment and underwater pressure jet massage
Hydrotherapy and thermotherapy with all classic Kneipp methods: medicinal washes, brushing, pouring, packs, wraps, herbal baths, temperature-increasing partial baths, overheating baths and saunas, steam baths and inhalations
Phytotherapy with natural medicinal plant extracts in teas, as inhalation, in infusions and baths
Order therapy, the development of a health-promoting lifestyle including relaxation techniques and in the current extension as mind-body medicine based on mindfulness research

(Cf. Bühring, 1997)

Differentiation: Physical medicine

The term physical medicine is based on classical naturopathic treatments and emerged as an independent speciality in medical training between 1980 and 2000.

The therapeutic approaches were successively integrated into conventional medicine by abandoning the natural view in favour of the scientific interpretation of the effective factors. The focus is on the therapeutic use of physical effective factors, which are described as electrical, mechanical, optical or thermal forces.

This includes electric current, radiation and light in different wave spectra, heat and cold as well as mechanical therapeutic stimuli such as pressure, traction and torsion as well as kinesiology. The specialisms therefore include electrotherapy, hydrotherapy, physiotherapy, massage and extended, the influence of local balneology and climatotherapy, insofar as they can be largely reconciled with physiological concepts of effect. To this end, scientific explanations based on physiological-functional, thermal and biomechanical principles have been established (Drexel et al., 1990) .

In this context, chiropractic or chirotherapy and manual medicine^[1] and osteopathy would also be included, although for historical reasons and due to their scope, they have developed independently and in some cases propagate their own concepts of effectiveness, which are still not widely recognised in conventional medicine. ^[2]

Basis of Naturopathy

Sebastian Kneipp wrote: "A person's whole life is a school. Day after day, everyone goes to this school; day after day they can learn and practise. This lasts until death. Happy is the person who understands and endeavours to acquire more and more of what is necessary, useful and beneficial!" (Kneipp, 1889; author’s translation)

This attitude is primarily aimed at the natural abilities and skills for coping with illness and actively maintaining health and forms the basis of the naturopathic approach. Conceptually, it also takes into account:

constitutional factors, such as biorhythms, performance and
reaction-typological sensitivity to environmental stimuli, as well as
the life context conditions with the inner attitude towards oneself,

Naturopathy follows a stimulus-response model that understands (self-)coping as an expression of self-healing powers. In other words, autoregulative processes should be therapeutically stimulated in order to overcome disorders and maintain health, with the aim of better coping with the demands of life on one's own and developing greater resilience.

Perspectives on Naturopathy

The still incompletely discovered wealth of knowledge about the complexity of autoregulation can only be found in a few approaches in conventional medicine. This can be recognised in particular by the fact that there are hardly any concepts in conventional medicine that are geared towards health and "staying healthy", as can be found in the focus and objectives of naturopathy.

Mindset of Conventional Medicine

The focus is on identifying diseases nosologically and structuring them systematically using statistically proven concepts. The primary effective concepts in conventional treatment are:

Eleminatio (elimination) - the anti-principle
Suppressio (suppression) - the inhibition principle
Directio (control) - the control principle
Substitutio (replacement) - the substitution principle

The concept of stimulatio (stimulation) is only used to a very limited extent. Apart from vaccinations, it is only used in isolated therapeutic approaches, such as hormone stimulation in fertility treatment or, for example, interferon therapy for chronic hepatitis - and here again as a targeted guidance and control approach.

The ontological-dualistic approach to thinking and acting "of measures that are directed against diseases" in order to eliminate disorders can therefore also be found on the patient side. Disorders are experienced as alien, not belonging and as a threat - "something that must be fought and overcome".

The idea that symptoms and complaints could also be signals that indicate a development that is going wrong and that need to be understood in order to change one's own behaviour is at best secondary to self-awareness. Prevention is also reduced to the elimination of risk factors. These are often orientated towards statistical biomarkers and are treated using specific therapeutic agents - e.g. the use of statins as an intervention in the fat metabolism to lower blood lipids with the aim of preventing arteriosclerosis, which is orientated towards target values of set norms, the LDL level in the blood plasma.

The questions "How do I recognise what makes me ill? What keeps me healthy?" are neither in the focus of perception nor in the thinking of a scientific explanatory approach.

Naturopathic way of thinking

Health and disease are relative states of a dynamic equilibrium. This is figuratively comparable to movement in a multidimensional space in which a person moves back and forth between the poles over the course of time. This movement should be supported diagnostically and therapeutically in the attempt to achieve and maintain the best possible and healthiest level through autoregulation and self-organisation.

Therapeutic measures should therefore stimulate the physiological processes at all levels by means of individually dosed stimulation and also help to actively the living environment in its individual conditions.

The individual reaction is not determined by a few measurable parameters alone, but rather by summarising all important aspects of adaptation (see above). These can be achieved by activating cortical, vegetative-autonomic and trophic-functional regulation - in the therapy process by shaping the stimulus through protection, normalisation and strengthening.

The patient's own responsible contributions are also part of the stimulation and training offerings. This promotes their health literacy and aims to help to cope with crises and develop meaningful life plans.

Sources and References

Bühring, M., & Abel, U. (Hrsg.). (1992). Naturheilverfahren und unkonventionelle medizinische Richtungen: Grundlagen, Methoden, Nachweissituationen. Springer Loseblatt-Systeme. Springer.
Bühring, M. (1997). Naturheilkunde: Grundlagen, Anwendungen, Ziele (p. 113). Beck.
Drexel, H., Hildebrandt, G., Schlegel, K. F., & Weimann, G. (1990). Physikalische Medizin; Band 1—4 (K. F. Schlegel & M. Aalam, Ed.). Hippokrates Publ.
Hentschel, H. D. (1987). Über Naturheilverfahren und Außenseiter-Methoden. Physikalische Therapie in Theorie und Praxis, 6, 342–345.
Hentschel, H.-D., & Anemueller, H. (Hrsg.). (1991). Naturheilverfahren in der ärztlichen Praxis ; [with 81 tables]. Deutscher Ärzte-Verl.
Jütte, R. (1996). Geschichte der alternativen Medizin: Von der Volksmedizin zu den unkonventionellen Therapien von heute. Beck.
Kneipp, S. (1889). So sollt ihr leben. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37267/37267-h/37267-h.htm accessed on May 15, 2025.
Rothschuh, K. E. (1965). Prinzipien der Medizin; ein Wegweiser durch die Medizin. Urban & Schwarzenberg. https://archive.org/details/prinzipiendermed00roth accessed on May 15, 2025.
Rothschuh, K. E. (1981). Aus der Geschichte der Naturheilbewegung. Die Entwicklung allgemeiner theoretischer Grundsätze in der Naturheilkunde des 19. Jahrhunderts. Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Medizin, 57/2, 1091–1100.

[1] Concept of continuing medical education as distinct from original

[2] The historical development of chiropractic (J. Atkinson, D. Palmer) and osteopathy (A.T. Still, W.G. Sutherland) began in the middle of the 19th century and was actively opposed by conventional medicine for over 100 years, as its developers and representatives were non-physicians who were formally regarded as lay practitioners.

Auth.: glt | Rev.: gbh | Ed.: pz | last modified May 16, 2025

Definition of Naturopathy