((I hope I chose the right flair!!!!))
The very first woman to ever serve in the position of âPhysician to the Presidentâ was Dr. Janet Travell in 1961 to President John F. Kennedy. She graduated from Cornell medical school in 1926 which is impressive in and of itself. She pioneered techniques that are still used today to relieve pain specifically myofascial pain.
One of the more surprising things she prescribe to JFK was a rocking chair. Apparently itâs great for back pain.
And that my friends is why I have come to you.
As a person with back pain I wanted to figure out how itâs beneficial so naturally I turned to my friend google. The very first link I clicked was an article updated August 2026. This was its second sentence::
ââNotably, Doctor George Burkley, who treated President John F. Kennedy for chronic back pain from war injuries, prescribed a rocking chair to alleviate discomfortââ
Huh. Well. Thatâs interesting because everything else says it was Dr. Janet Travell who prescribed the rocking chair and matching rocking ottoman and this was her area of expertiseâŚsoâŚ.likeâŚ.. who the fuck is this dude??
So I googled, as one doesâŚ.
âŚ.ladiesâŚ..
ââHe was named assistant White House physician to Janet G. Travell in 1961 then eventually succeed Travell to become Physician to the President in July 1963ââ (November 1963 is when JKF was assassinated).
I can-fucking-not with the man who wrote this fucking article
First woman Physician to the President. One of the first couple hundred women to even graduate medical school. So pioneering and so accurate with her science and knowledge that more than 60 years later we are still using her techniques and discoveries. Ever have a trigger point injection? Thank Dr. Janet Travell. Received dry needling?? Dr. Janet Travell. Have to drive a lot, are a farmer?? She was passionate about proper seating and was a consultant to such companies as John Deere and Lockheed to produce more comfortable and supportive seats for tractors and airplanes. Thank Dr Janet Travell. Needed physical therapy? ââMyofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manualââ is the foundational text in the diagnosis and treatment of myofascial pain. Ever receive vapocoolant numbing as part of physical therapy or for trigger point injections?? Thank DR. JANET. TRAVELL.
And yet, some mfing how, one of the top links to explain how a rocking chair is beneficial for back pain it is her assistant that is credited for her pioneering work and âunusualâ treatment in prescribing President John F. Kennedy with a rocking chair. Mr. George Burkley gets a whole Wikipedia section for âPhysician to the Presidentâ while Dr. Janet Travellâs posting as Physician to the President is buried in the âcareerâ tab and worthy of 2 paragraphs apparently. I guess because he was the attending physician at the time of the assassination, while also being present in the motorcade, and serving in different positions across multiple administrations heâs clearly the one who matters more and provided far more service to his famous patient. Apparently the fact that Dr. Janet Travell was the primary physician for all but 4 months of JFKâs presidency. Was the one directly responsible for many of his pain relief treatments just wasnât quite as impressive and important as the man who did the job for 4 whole entire months. She didnât sign the death certificate so itâs cool to rewrite history and pretend Mr. Burkley was the Physician to the President the entire time and credit him with all of Dr. Janet Travellâs work. Really, who would notice or even care anyways, amirite!
Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me?????
I am so sick. and. fucking. tired. of men erasing women from history. It feels like every other day we re-discover a woman whose spot in history was stolen and a man who became a legend with his theft. Like seriously yâall, why did anyone ever think a man invented the concept of a calendar?? What the fuck would neolithic men need to track?????????????????
You would think by now, in the age of documenting everything theyâd feel some shame or at least fear of being discovered as the thieves they are. But NOPE!!! The thieves are still going strong!! Every time a man argues ââif all men disappeared the world would cease to exist because look at all these jobs women cannot do.ââ Is ignoring every woman who FAUGHT to do those exact jobs. They are actively saying Fuck Marie Curie who last I checked laid the foundational groundwork that made nuclear power possible. Fuck Rosalind Franklin who was instrumental in discovering DNA. Fuck Hedy Lamar who literally invented the technology that became the cornerstone of: WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and some military communications systems. Fuck Florence Lawrence, Margaret A. Wilcox, Dorothy Levitt, Charlotte Brigwood, Mary Anderson, Dr. Gladys West, Stephanie Kwolek and Margaret Wu who developed and invented a variety of the items and conveniences that allow men to have, enjoy and care for one of their most precious, most protected, most âyou wouldnât understand cuz youâre not a guyâ male dominated interests/posessions: Cars. That absolutely ridiculous dumbass assertion actively and purposefully erases every. single. woman. engineer, doctor, physicist, service member, chemist, nuclear scientist etc etc. Nobody invited those women in, they are not welcomed with open arms. They were actively barred from education. They, we, fought like hell just for the chance to prove we are capable, and it still was IS not good enough. To this day we have to be 4 times as good just to get in the door, twice as capable while doing twice as much to prove we should be allowed to stay, but most importantly:: we can never, ever make a mistake or be a problem in any capacity for any reason ever. I donât even know what we have to do to receive the acknowledgment and recognition we actually deserve, in our lifetime, thatâs still a goddamn mystery.
The men have taken enough.
Stop. Fucking. Stealing. From. Women.