Naturopathy is a form of alternative medicine. It is based on the belief that a special energy called "vital energy" guides bodily functions like metabolism, reproduction and growth.
Naturopaths use various forms of treatment, such as herbal medicine and massaging, with a holistic view. They generally avoid the use of surgery and synthetic drugs. In Naturopathy, evidence-based medicine is thought of as being only part of the evidence. Taken as a whole, naturopathy is an ideologic system, not a scientific one.
The term naturopathy comes from Greek and Latin, meaning "natural therapy". Modern naturopathy developed from the Natural Cure movement in Europe.
