Honoring Dr. Janet Travell: The Woman Who Changed the Way We Treat Pain

March is Women’s History Month—a time to recognize the often-overlooked contributions of women who’ve shaped our world. In the field of pain management, one name stands out as both pioneer and healer: Dr. Janet Travell, a woman whose clinical insights continue to ripple through massage therapy, acupuncture, physical therapy, and manual medicine to this day.

At Skoaching, where our work integrates movement, soft tissue therapy, acupuncture, and holistic care, we stand on the shoulders of giants like Dr. Travell. Her legacy reminds us that healing doesn’t always begin in the joints or bones—it often starts in the muscles.

🧠 Who Was Dr. Janet Travell?

Dr. Janet Travell (1901–1997) was a physician, researcher, and educator who revolutionized our understanding of musculoskeletal pain. She is best known for her discovery and mapping of myofascial trigger points—those tight, tender knots in muscle tissue that can refer pain to distant areas in the body.

You may not know her name, but you’ve felt her influence if you’ve ever had a massage therapist press on a tender spot in your shoulder that made your head hurt… and then made the headache go away.

She also made history as the first female White House physician, treating President John F. Kennedy for chronic back pain. Thanks to her clinical skill, JFK was able to manage debilitating symptoms and continue his work as a national leader.

📚 Her Groundbreaking Work: Trigger Points & Referred Pain

Before Dr. Travell, chronic pain was often chalked up to mystery illnesses or structural damage (like disc herniations or arthritis). But she noticed something different: many patients’ pain didn’t follow nerve paths or show up on X-rays, but instead traced back to specific spots in the muscle tissue.

She mapped these “trigger points” across the body and linked them to predictable referral patterns—for example, a tight muscle in the chest could cause pain down the arm, mimicking a heart condition.

Together with Dr. David Simons, she published the landmark textbooks:

• Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual (Volumes 1 & 2)
  These manuals remain essential references for practitioners working with pain, mobility, and performance.

🤲 How It Connects to What We Do at Skoaching

At Skoaching, we blend acupuncture, cupping, massage therapy, movement coaching, and manual therapy to help people heal from pain, recover from injuries, and move better in their daily lives. Dr. Travell’s trigger point theory is one of the pillars that supports our clinical lens.

Whether it's releasing a knotted muscle with pressure, using acupuncture to deactivate a trigger point, or guiding someone through a functional movement to rebalance a compensation pattern—we’re often treating what she identified decades ago: muscle-based dysfunction that creates full-body ripple effects.

Her insights also align with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in fascinating ways. Trigger points often correspond with acupuncture points or ashi points—sore spots used diagnostically in East Asian medicine. While the language is different, the intention is the same: to restore flow and reduce suffering.

🔥 A Legacy of Integration

Dr. Travell was ahead of her time—not only because she was a woman forging paths in male-dominated medicine, but because she saw the body as an integrated whole. She believed in patient-centered care, in listening to people’s pain stories, and in understanding that soft tissue held more power than we ever gave it credit for.

That spirit of integration is what we’re all about at Skoaching.

🙌 Honoring Her Work Through Our Hands

As practitioners, we honor Dr. Travell every time we:

• Release a trigger point that resolves a chronic headache
• Explain referred pain patterns to a confused patient
• Look past imaging to address what the body is really saying

She showed us that pain doesn’t have to be mysterious. It just needs someone to listen, observe, and touch with purpose.

This Women’s History Month, we’re proud to carry her torch—and to continue blending ancient wisdom, modern science, and hands-on care to help people live better in their bodies.

Written with gratitude for the legacy of Dr. Janet Travell, and for every woman who changes the world by changing how we heal.