The National College of Naprapathic Medicine, the oldest four year academic professional College of Naprapathic Medicine in the United States, accepts persons qualified for higher education endeavors, and has as its Mission, the education of Doctors of Naprapathic Medicine, connective tissue manipulative specialists.
Students are taught the Oakley Smith Naprapathic Method® of manipulation, and the treatment of connective tissue disorders, integrating the basic sciences with the practical application of specialized principles established by the founding father, Dr. Oakley Smith. With a commitment to improving the health of the human person, graduates are qualified to join the allied health community as Licensed Doctors of Naprapathic Medicine.
The College also offers postgraduate instruction and continuing education programs to expand professional competencies for licensed Naprapaths in the areas of: practice management, connective tissue manipulation, therapeutic and rehabilitative exercise, postural counseling, nutritional counseling, use of modalities such as: heat, cold, light, water, radiant energy, electricity, sound and air and assistive devices for the purpose of preventing, correcting or alleviating physical disabilities.
Naprapathic Medicine is primarily a system of therapeutic manipulation. Naprapaths contend that many functional disorders of the human body result from distortions in the interrelated structural, biochemical, and emotional balance of the normally self-regulating body. The early years of research and clinical application developed primarily the structural phase of therapeutics. Research determined that abnormal contracture of the ligaments and muscles connected to the spinal column affected spinal nerves and consequently their target connective tissues such as organs, glands, and blood vessels, altering their normal function.
Application of specific techniques to correct these connective tissue abnormalities were studied and developed, and a charting system unique to Naprapathic Medicine was instituted in order to record specific findings as well as the therapeutic responses appropriate to each type of connective tissue syndrome. Specific, reliable Naprapathic findings continue to guide the Doctor of Naprapathic Medicine to consistently normalize neurological function through precise manipulative technique.
Around the mid-20th century, Naprapathic Medicine also incorporated the biochemical phase of health. The chemistry of the human body is optimally in continuous process, adjusting to changes in the environment, diet, exercise, posture, redundant motion and individual stresses. A wide spectrum of biochemical components, including nutritional elements, hormones, enzymes, metabolic by-products and end-products are studied as integral factors toward the balance of the human body.
Doctors of Naprapathic Medicine remain person-oriented, taking time to explain procedures and conditions to the patient, and to enlist the patient’s participation in establishing daily healthy habits of exercise, correct posture, sound body.
